The Board agreed to combine items 10 and nine in
order to aid the flow of the discussion.
Witnesses:
Garath Symonds, Assistant
Director for Commissioning and Prevention
Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children
and Families Wellbeing
Mary Lewis, Cabinet Associate for
Children, Schools and Families
Declarations of interests:
None
Key
points of discussion:
-
The Assistant Director for Commissioning and
Prevention highlighted that the Surrey Multi-Agency Safeguarding
Hub (MASH) went operational on the 5 October 2016. It was noted
that the MASH was based at Guildford Police Station and served as
the first point of contact for all safeguarding queries, in
contrast to the multiple points of contact that were present prior
to the introduction of the MASH. It was noted that this represented
a significant culture change away from siloed working and the prior
“multi-door” approach for the service and its
partners.
-
It was noted that the initial implementation of the
MASH had been positive, with several key benefits being identified:
better co-ordination of response, greater capability for
information sharing and a more consistent response to
challenges.
-
Officers noted that one of the key challenges for
the MASH following its inception was a backlog of calls. It was
noted that there were two avenues of contact for the MASH: email
and telephone calls. It was queried by Members whether the service
had looked into the idea of instant messaging services. Officers
responded that they would look into the feasibility of the
idea.
-
It was noted that there was some initial down time
in the email system at the inception of the MASH which led to a
backlog of cases. It was also highlighted that there was a high
volume of contacts for the MASH at its inception, and that the
majority of these were repeat or already open cases. It was
expected that this would reduce as more became familiar with the
function of the MASH. It was noted that the service expected to be
on target for call handling by the end of 2016.
-
Another key challenge that was noted by officers was
the resilience of computer systems and databases to reliably cope
with information required by MASH operators. It was noted that the
Early Help Module (the way to access and use the databases) had a
long response time, and caused some backlog. It was highlighted
that, to resolve this issue, the service was working together with
Information Management Technology to resolve any issues arising as
a matter of urgency.
-
The Board was informed that the MASH programme would
transition to business as usual in January 2017, and this would see
new governance arrangements being introduced. It was emphasised that, as part of this transition, there would
be a governance board which would consist of representatives from
Surrey Police, Clinical Commissioning Groups, the Surrey
Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB), the Surrey Safeguarding Adults
Board and the Children’s Service directors. It was noted that
this board would be accountable to all statutory partners through
the SSCB.
-
It was highlighted that the service needed an
increase in staffing levels in order to effectively meet with
demand, noting that 19 additional personnel were required. However,
it was highlighted that the service was reviewing the requirement
for the operators to be qualified social workers, in order to
improve capacity for recruitment.
-
Officers noted that there was a communications
programme sent out to users of the MASH three weeks prior to
launch.
-
Members requested that the service use clear
terminology to users of the MASH, to ensure high quality
service.