Council failings prompt new safeguarding review
Following the death of her father, former safeguarding investigator Diana Stroh has written her own Safeguarding Adult Review.
Diana’s father, otherwise known as Brian, sadly lost his life in October 2021 after suffering with Dementia in Alzheimer’s disease. Just three years after his passing, Diana has published her own Safeguarding Adult Review after Suffolk County Council officials refused to thoroughly conduct their own evaluation into the circumstances surrounding Brian’s death.
Within the review, which can be found in full here, Diana references instances where care agencies could’ve taken better care of her father. One example includes a case where her dad suffered a fall at home and wasn’t discovered for several hours. At the time of his death, agencies were involved in a crisis period, responding to allegations of neglect and financial abuse from his eldest daughter who was declared his full-time carer.
What’s more, the review also identifies three occasions when Suffolk County Council refused to comply with its lawful obligations under the Care Act 2014, meaning Brian’s needs were never fully identified.
‘Suffolk’s safeguarding professionals persistently failed my dad, when they had the information to support statutory safeguarding reviews into his care between May 2018 and his death in October 2021,’ Diana said. ‘As a former safeguarding professional myself, I find this collective behaviour worrying and potentially unsupportive of vulnerable adults in need of safeguarding.’
Concluding her review, Diana points out previous reports have identified similar issues within Suffolk authorities responsible for conducting thorough safeguarding investigations.
These include:
- Gaps in knowledge of relevant legal frameworks
- Poor timely and dynamic assessment of self-neglect and mental capacity in patients
- No clear pathways from referral to intervention
- Limited tools to manage safeguarding interventions
With this in mind, Diana suggests authorities are monitored by the Safeguarding Adult Board and appropriate training should be implemented to support adult safeguarding practitioners.
In related news:
