Adult safeguarding, quality and practice service plan

A. Overview

Organisation chart

Achievements in 2024/25

• The work of the DoLS Team frequently secures positive outcomes for people such as increasing their access to social activities and reducing restrictions whilst continuing to minimise the risk of harm.
• The DoLS team works with Provider organisations offering advice under the MCA and has also delivers Mental Capacity Act and DoLS Workshops to Providers to support their work. 
• The DoLS team has worked hard to meet increasing demand by introducing a robust triaging approach to referrals, particularly from hospitals. 
• CRT and CCC the Wellbeing Officer post has resulted in staff being well supported which has reduced sickness absence.
• Dedicated permanent social worker appointed in CRT.
• CRT and CCC a new Staff Resource Officer post has meant they can focus on training needs, as a result all staff up to date with their mandatory training.
• Strathy Close Full staffing establishment achieved following challenging recruitment drives. 
• Two new shared lives carers recruited to. 
• Focus House have built good working relationship with IMPACTT (Intensive Management of Personality Disorders and Clinical Therapies Team) and their PICT team (Psychologically Informed Consultation and Training) on how to work with EUPD (Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder), Self-Harm and PTSD. Organising quarterly bespoke face to face sessions with the PICT team – this has prevented two service users from going into crisis and hospital admission.  
• Safeguarding Mosaic Module is complete and will be launched in Feb ’25 with a feedback form.
• Safeguarding procedures (handbook for staff and partner agencies) phase 2 is complete and currently being formatted to be launched in Feb ‘25. 
• 120 Safeguarding Audits completed slide deck sent to SAB and evidence reflects significant improvement in all areas.
• Jan ’25 level 4 safeguarding training complete.
• PiPOT referrals have increased reflecting increased awareness by staff and partner agencies.
• Principal Occupational Therapist annual report. 
• Principal Social Workers Annual Report.
• Workforce Strategy and Action Plan.
• 84 case files audits completed.

Business-as-usual services

• The DoLS Team monitors the care and treatment arrangements for our residents living with conditions such as Dementia, Brain Injury and Learning Disability, who lack the mental capacity to consent to their care arrangements in care homes and hospitals. The safeguards ensure that any care restricting a person’s liberty is done in their best interests, and in the least restrictive way, in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). 
• CRT offers short-term Community Reablement, which supports residents at home to enable them to build the skills to live independently or reduce the support they require, carers assessments or one-off pieces of equipment will also be offered through this area of service. 
• CCC is an extra care scheme, it offers flats to help residents retain as much independence and control of their lives as possible. Residents can continue to enjoy their social pursuits in as safe/secure environment and is an alternative to residential care for vulnerable older people. 
• Strathy Close, a Learning Disability Day Service whose aims are to provide a day service to adults with a profound and multiple learning disability by ensuring activities offered enhances social interaction, independence, and communication for those with higher support needs. 
  The service offers support within Strathy Close and numerous local community facilities throughout Reading.
  They provide an inclusive, person centered and outcome focused service that will help people with learning disabilities have more choice and control concerning the support they receive.   
• The Maples, a Day Service for older people who require support to take part in   social/leisure activities and to minimise any risk of isolation.
  The service provides a high-quality community-based service for people with varying levels of mobility /disabilities including personal care, which allows carers/spouse the opportunity of a well-deserved break from their caring role in a safe, friendly and caring environment. 
  The Maples also offers an ‘Outreach’ service where the support is delivered from the service user’s home between the hours of 9am and 5pm. The service aims to provide respite for the carer and social interaction/stimulation for the service users. 
• Shared lives provides support to vulnerable young people and adults who have a physical/learning disability, mental health needs or because they are older and have become frail within an approved carers own family home. 
  Carers include the person in their day to day and special family activities to help them experience ordinary life and build safe and strong relationships.  
  The support is flexible, and the person is encouraged to live as independently as possible. 
• The respite service offers overnight respite care for up to four people (18-65) with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder to support carers to have a break from their caring roles.  
• A residential Supported Living unit and floating support service for adults with mental health needs. They provide high quality psychological and practical support to service users to promote a higher level of independence, based on the principles of the recovery model that utilises the strength and assets of everyone regardless of gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation. The service supports individuals to develop their everyday living skills (e.g. shopping, cooking, personal hygiene, medication administration, budgeting, coping strategies, interpersonal and decision-making skills) and confidence they need to progress towards more independent living arrangements.  
• Safeguarding adults supports adults with care and support needs promote wellbeing, prevent harm and reduce the risk of abuse or neglect. 
• Principal Social Worker, lead inspire and determine priorities for quality assurance and delivery improvement of social work. 
• Principal Occupational Therapist drives preventative, personalised, strength based social care services and practice that focus on enablement and optimising the independence of adults. 
• AMHP’s focuses on client’s choice, wellbeing, equality of access to legal entitlements, personalised care and support, recovery, prevention, and early intervention, while promoting and applying a strengths-based approach by enabling individuals to identify their assets and networks and utilise connections with relevant voluntary organisation.

B. Key Performance Indicators

The metrics that tell us how well our business-as-usual services are performing and whether we are delivering the objectives set out in section C. 

You should aim to have a KPI which describes how well each key business-as-usual activity is operating.  This could be the quantity of work (e.g. bins collected) or/and the quality of work (e.g. missed bins).  These should be focused on the main business-as-usual activities that need tracking and are specifically of interest to senior management and Members. They should be within the Council’s control and are your ‘normal level’ of activity. 

If you are proposing to improve the service, through a project or initiative that you may be including below, then you should have a target which shows what that improvement/change will bring (e.g. normal number of bins missed is x%, target following project is y%). 

Under “definition” explain how the indicator is defined and the formula used. E.g. recycling rate = household waste recycled in the month / total household waste collected (kg). “Target type” should say whether the target is “flat”, i.e. the same each month/quarter (e.g. 50%), or cumulative, i.e. increasing each month/quarter (e.g. for measuring total library visits in the year to date). If the target has a variable profile/seasonal targets, please detail this. 

Measure	Definition	Unit	Better (bigger or smaller)	Frequency (monthly, quarterly)	Target type (flat or cumulative)	Normal level/ Target 25/26	Normal level/ Target 26/27	Normal level/ Target 27/28	Council Plan KPI (Y/N)	Data provider
Satisfaction Surveys AMHP	Percentage of satisfaction for customers using AMHP Service (Use of feedback forms for all work we do or monthly feedback via selection of individuals for telephone calls, scale -service rating good, very satisfactory, or excellent).	%	Bigger	Monthly	Flat	90%	92%	95%	Y	AMHP Team Manager
Quality Assurance and Performance Management	Effective implementation and monitoring of requirements of the Quality Assurance Framework through case auditing	Number	Bigger	Monthly	Flat	10	10	10	Y	Principal Social Worker Principal Occupational Therapist
People remaining at home post reablement	Older people 65 years plus still at home after 91 days following discharge from hospital into reablement into hospital (excluding those who died)	%	Bigger	Monthly	Flat	90%	91%	92%	Y	Head of Provider Services
Quality Assurance and Performance Management	Safeguarding performance  Ensuring the delivery of Making Safeguarding Personal through case auditing	Number	Bigger	Monthly	Flat	6	7	8	Y	Strategic Safeguarding Lead

C. Objectives for 2025-28

The most important changes your service is aiming to deliver over the period of this service plan. 

This should include Council Plan objectives and any additional objectives at service level. 

Example: “Prevent the escalation of children’s needs through developing family hubs.” Objectives should: 

• Clearly and concisely state the outcome we are trying to achieve and how we will deliver it.
• Be realistic given available resources and relevant to the priorities set out in the Council Plan. 
• Have an associated KPI that tells us whether we have achieved the objective. 

See the annex for a full list of Council Plan priorities and objectives. 

Objectives (one objective per row)	Council Plan objective? (Y/N)	Relevant Council Plan priority
Increase the number of people who access Community Reablement through analysing data	Y	Support those who need social care services to live as independently as possible in a place they call home with improved wellbeing.
Ensure safeguarding concerns are recorded and action taken to safeguard adults	Y	Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children

D. Projects

The specific activities and programmes work that will deliver the objectives set out above. 

Projects should be: 

• Focused on tangible deliverables rather than outcomes (e.g. “build a new library and reception area in the Civic Centre” would be preferable to “celebrate Reading’s arts, culture, and heritage”). 
• Time-limited (with a defined beginning and end) and distinct from BAU activity (ongoing activities should be reflected in the “business as usual” section). 

Project name	What will this deliver and what will the benefits be?	Start date (month-year)	End date (month-year)	Budget	What resources is this project dependent on? (e.g. finance, legal, IT)	Relevant Council/Service Plan objective (from table above)	Council Plan project? (Y/N)	Data provider
Redesign of Internal Provider services	Reprovisioning of models of support for service users with care and support needs in community settings (i.e., Shared Lives, Day services and respite care services  Develop service user feedback approaches across the service and report and monitor findings	April 2024	August 26		Legal, Housing Management	Priority 4	Y	Head of Provider Services
Transfer of Safeguarding Adults into the Wellbeing Hub	Enable safeguarding concerns to be identified and responded to quickly and appropriately.	April 25	July 25	None	ASC	Priority 4	Y	Strategic Lead for Safeguarding
Delivery of ASC Workforce Strategy	Increased capacity to deliver consistent services within Adult Social Care	April 25	March 26	Establishment	HR	Priority 4	Y	Deputy Director Adult Social Care Safeguarding, Quality and Practice

Annex: Council Plan priorities and objectives

Vision: Our Vision is to help Reading realise its potential and to ensure that everyone who lives and works here can share the benefits of its success. 

Priority 1: Promote affordable housing and more equal communities 

• Tackle economic inequality by taking a place-based approach to how we deliver all our services, and enhance access to education, skills, and training opportunities.
• Deliver new energy efficient council homes and improve tenant satisfaction with social housing.
• Prevent the escalation of children’s needs through developing Family Hubs. 
• Promote best practice across Reading’s schools, helping to improve educational attainment and narrow the gap for disadvantaged and vulnerable children. 
• Prevent and reduce health inequalities within the population of Reading and improve and protect the health and wellbeing of all its communities. 
• Through the community safety partnership, focus on reducing community-based drug activity, knife violence, violence against women and girls and youth reoffending. 
• Work with partners to prevent homelessness, provide value for money accommodation for those that are homeless, and move people onto settled accommodation as quickly as possible. 

Priority 2: Secure Reading’s economic and cultural success 

• Enable the delivery of over 800 high-quality new homes a year in Reading, along with the infrastructure to support new development. 
• Promote the economic success of Reading by working with Councils across Berkshire and the wider Thames Valley. 
• Maximise the benefits available for Reading from opportunities arising from the English Devolution White Paper. 
• Continue to deliver quality cultural and leisure services and facilitate exciting improvements to our cultural offer through grant-funded projects. 

Priority 3: Promote a sustainable and healthy environment and reduce Reading’s carbon footprint 

• Make use of central government funding to deliver improvements to public transport, cycling and walking infrastructure in Reading. 
• Keep Reading moving by delivering investment in highways, including roads, bridges, streetlighting and traffic signals. 
• Continue moving towards a net zero, resilient Reading and Council by 2030. 
• Further improve the physical environment of Reading by improving air quality, access to green space, and the quality of public spaces. 
• Deliver major changes to our waste and recycling service to ensure compliance with new legislation. 

Priority 4: Safeguard and support the health and wellbeing of Reading’s adults and children 

• Reduce the number of children in care and the number of children in residential care.
• Improve our local Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) offer and support education settings to develop inclusive practice, so children receive high quality education locally, and achieve their potential. 
• Support those who need social care services to live as independently as possible in a place they call home with improved wellbeing. 
• Improve our offer for unpaid Carers, ensuring they are supported to live well and can sustain their caring role. 
• Work with our partners in health and the voluntary sector to provide support solutions for those with complex health and social care needs to improve outcomes. 

Priority 5: Ensure Reading Borough Council is fit for the future 

• Deliver good, accessible services for our customers. 
• Invest in technology that is secure and helps deliver effective services. 
• Use procurement of goods and services to secure greater social value and spend locally. 
• Bring Brighter Futures for Children (Children’s Services) back to the Council. 
• Be a fair employer with an attractive and competitive offer and a workforce that is representative of the local community.