SAFE Newsletter: September 2020
Dear Colleague
Welcome to the September news round up.
To assist all our members and clients during these
difficult times we continue to offer our help including :
News Roundup
On September 25th 2020 NHS
COVID-19 app was launched nationwide to help control COVID-19
transmission alongside national and local contact tracing Features of
the app include contact tracing using Bluetooth, risk alerts based on
postcode district, QR check-in at venues, symptom checker and test
booking – with user privacy and data security at its heart. Certain
businesses are now required by law to display the official NHS QR code
posters so people can check-in at different premises with the app
New Adult Safeguarding Bill for Northern Ireland
Proposed
Following the publication of the Independent Whole
Systems Review of the care failures at Dunmurry
Manor Care Home , Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann
made the commitment to reform legislation . He said,
“I can confirm that this will include legislative
reform. I intend to consult on a range of legislative options before
Christmas to inform the development of an Adult Safeguarding Bill.
“I have asked the Chief Social Worker, Sean
Holland, to chair a new Adult Safeguarding Transformation Board to
oversee this work and to strengthen the governance around adult
safeguarding to achieve a more accountable, regional approach.
“I would also like to thank the team from CPEA for
their work and expertise in delivering this report.
“I am determined to lead social care into a better
place in Northern Ireland, and an Adult Safeguarding Bill will help
achieve that goal.”
In line with the Review’s recommendations, the
Minister confirmed that plans include standing down the Northern Ireland
Adult Safeguarding Partnership (NIASP) in a move towards the
establishment of an Independent Adult Safeguarding Board at arms-length
from the Department.
The Minister added: “I want to thank the
individuals and agencies who have contributed to NIASP over the years. I
recognise the value of that engagement and I believe the plans that I am
announcing today set the way forward for us to continue working together
across the different sectors.”
CPEA’s review work for the Department of Health
continues and its findings on regulation and complaints handling are due
to be published in the near future.
New Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual
Offences) (Scotland) Bill Proposed
Proposals to put the healthcare needs of victims of sexual offences at
the forefront of forensic medical services have been endorsed by the
Health and Sport Committee in a report. The Bill places
responsibility on NHS boards to provide forensic medical services to
victims of sexual offences. It would also allow victims over the age of
16 to self-refer to NHS facilities and have forensic evidence taken and
retained, before deciding if, how and when they want to report the
incident to the police.
In welcoming the proposals, the Committee supports
the Bill’s assertion that the individual has a right to decide whether
to report an incident to the police. The Committee believes that
self-referral empowers individuals giving them choice and control around
the accessing of medical support, as well as potentially reducing the
psychological trauma.
However, the Committee would like to see the Bill
strengthened to ensure victims are provided with the information they
need when deciding whether to report. If information is not readily
available on areas such as the length of time evidence is retained, then
individuals cannot make an informed choice about if, or when, they
involve the police. Furthermore, the Committee acknowledges that
self-referral will only benefit victims if they are made aware it is an
option.
The Committee has made several recommendations in
the report, including:
- The Bill be amended to allow the age limit of
self-referral to be altered in future. Although the Committee is
satisfied with the age limit of 16, it recognises there are
legitimate concerns. The Scottish Parliament should therefore have
the right to amend this in the future.
- The Bill focus on the importance of easy
access to necessary information, supporting individuals in making
informed choices.
- The Bill be amended to contain a statutory
right to independent advocacy to ensure victims can make informed
decisions.
- That there must be a 24-hour, 7-day, forensic
medical examination service.
That NHS Scotland produce an annual report on the
progress and effectiveness of forensic medical examinations.
Statutory Guidance
England
Keeping Safe in Education September 2020 has now been published.
This statutory guidance should be read and followed
by:
- governing bodies of maintained schools
(including maintained nursery schools) and colleges;
- proprietors of independent schools (including
academies, free schools and alternative provision academies) and
non-maintained special schools. In the case of academies, free
schools and alternative provision academies, the proprietor will be
the academy trust; and
- management committees of pupil referral units
(PRUs).
- The above persons should ensure that all staff
in their school or college read at least Part one of this guidance.
The above persons should ensure that mechanisms are in place to
assist staff to understand and discharge their role and
responsibilities as set out in Part one of this guidance.
A table of changes is included at Annex H including
where legislation has required it e.g. reflecting mandatory Relationship
Education, Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education from
September 2020. There is also helpful additional information that will
support schools and colleges protect their children e.g. mental health,
domestic abuse, child criminal and sexual exploitation and county lines;
plus , important clarifications which will help the sector better
understand and/or follow the guidance.
Non Statutory Guidance
Wales
The Welsh Government has produced Together
we’ll keep children and young people safe- as we rebuild from Covid-19, to
remind practitioners working across agencies of their responsibilities
to safeguard children and to support them in responding to concerns
about children at risk.
This guide does not deal in detail with
arrangements in individual agencies or settings and it should be used
with any relevant policy or procedures already in place for the place
where you work or volunteer
This guide is primarily for practitioners working
with children (up to the age of 18).
This includes those working in early years, social
care, education, health, the police, youth offending and youth,
community and family support services (including the third sector) and
foster care and residential care.
The term ‘child’ is used throughout this guide to
refer to a child or young person who is up to the age of 18. This is in
line with the legal definition of a child as set out in the Social
Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. The United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child also sets out the human rights of every
person under the age of 18. Young people have told us through
consultations that they do not do not like to be called children and
this should be remembered when working with and recording information
about young people.
We know that some services support young people who
are over the age of 18 years. Most services will also come into contact
with parents or family members as part of their work. This guide does
not deal in details with adult safeguarding but a short section on
adults at risk is included.
Reports, Reviews, Resources, Research,
Consultations and Inquiries
1. The Charity Commission has opened a statutory
inquiry into The
Kingdom Church GB (charity number 1137370) in South London over
concerns about the charity’s management.
The regulator first opened a regulatory case into
the charity after media reports that it was selling a ‘plague protection
kit’ which it was claimed would cure and protect against the Covid-19
virus. This led to liaison with Southwark Council which had opened a
Trading Standards investigation into the sale of the kits.
Since then, the Commission has examined the
charity’s records, revealing concerns about its finances. The regulator
is concerned about the accuracy of information provided to the
Commission regarding the charity’s income and expenditure.
As a result, it launched a statutory inquiry into
the charity on 7 August 2020. The inquiry will examine:
- the trustees’ compliance with their legal
duties around the administration, governance and management of the
charity
- the extent to which the trustees responsibly
managed the charity’s resources and financial affairs, and
particularly how they have managed conflicts of interest.
This will include examination of the charity’s
relationship with a connected organisation called Bishop Climate
Ministries which the charity has said was responsible for the sale of
the ‘plague protection kits’.
The Commission has already intervened to ensure the
charity removed all known links to sales of the kits from the charity’s
web and social media sites. The regulator will continue to liaise with
Southwark Council Trading Standards’ investigation into the sale of the
kits.
Helen Earner, Director of Regulatory Services at
the Charity Commission, said:
Charities should be organisations that people can
trust. Many will have been concerned by allegations about this charity’s
activities in relation to Covid-19, and so it is right that we, and
others, have intervened.
Our own examination into The Kingdom Church GB has
identified further concerns that require investigation which is why we
have now opened an official inquiry.
It is the Commission’s policy, after it has
concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the
inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry
and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the
Commission are available on GOV.UK
2. Eight Case Reviews have been added to the
National Repository this month they are:
1. Serious harm suffered by a 3-month-old baby boy
because of multiple injuries including fractures and bruising of the
brain in May 2017. Jack lived
with his parents; had been subject to a child protection plan because of
risk of neglect before birth. At the time of the injuries, he was
subject to both a child protection plan and Interim Supervision Order
(ISO). Family were known to multiple agencies; older sibling had been
taken into care and adopted. Maternal history of: depression, being a
looked-after-child, learning disabilities. Following the identification
of the injuries, Jack was made the subject of an Interim Care Order
(ICO). Ethnicity or nationality of Jack is not stated. Identifies
lessons in relation to effectiveness of assessments; consideration and
management of risk; injuries to pre-mobile babies need to be viewed from
a perspective of potential risk; consider risk of neglect where a
child's weight is varying; need to involve and support fathers; need to
share information to allow robust discussion of concerns.
Recommendations include: ensure that procedures on pre-birth assessments
are consistent, contain guidance on timescales and ensure
sufficient challenge; ensure that all agencies understand legal orders
and their implications; child protection plans are SMART using tools to
measure progress; review and reissue guidance for parents with mental
health problems, joint working, and bruising in pre-mobile babies
2. Life-changing injuries to a 10-and-a-half-month-old infant in
November 2013 due to shaking. Mother's partner was convicted of causing
grievous bodily harm and was imprisoned. Mother was convicted for
neglect and received a suspended sentence. Baby
B was the second child in the family. Baby B's parents had separated
and both children were living with their mother and her partner.
Anonymous report about neglect made to the NSPCC in June 2013;
Children's Social Care found no concerns. Baby B was not brought to
several health appointments; sibling had high rate of school
absenteeism. Concerns about domestic violence; mother's partner's child
had been subject to a child protection plan due to domestic violence in
earlier relationship. Family is White British. Case review conducted
following an investigation in December 2018 by the Local Government and
Social Care Ombudsman into complaints made by Baby B's father against
East Riding Council. Learning includes: concerns made anonymously should
be treated as seriously as those that are not anonymous; health visitors
and school nurses provide a useful link between schools and health
services; where professionals have personal or professional
relationships with a service user or someone closely involved with the
service user there is the potential for professionals' boundaries to
become blurred. Recommendations include: practitioners must ensure that
they are complying with current legislation, statutory guidance and
agency polices relating to information; ensure that the minutes of
strategy discussions are included within the case record of all agencies
involved in the meeting and include the arrangements for review.
3. Neglect and abuse of a 6-year-old girl over a
number of years. Megan was
placed in the care of her paternal grandmother in 2012 via a Special
Guardianship Order (SGO). Megan was neglected and physically abused by
her father, her paternal grandmother and her grandmother's partner.
Megan was brought to hospital 'acutely unwell' and staff found her
covered in bruises. Megan was removed from her grandmother's care in
2015. Her father, grandmother and partner received substantial custodial
sentences. An initial case review was carried out by the Social Care
Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in 2017. This review reassesses the 2017
report. Ethnicity or nationality not stated. Learning includes: need for
practitioners to improve their awareness and personal knowledge in being
able recognise and identify the signs and symptoms of all child abuse;
the voice of the child was not effectively captured at the time
considering the subsequent disclosures Megan made; agencies should have
robust record keeping and management systems in place; a consistent lack
of professional curiosity and scrutiny displayed in the assessment of
child protection concerns; too much optimism when conducting the SGO
application of parental grandmother's capacity to care. Recommendations:
Gloucestershire County Council Children Social Care to develop a
safeguarding pathway for the application of family members for Special
Guardianship Orders. The process will include utilising a Family Group
Conference and to apply for an interim Kinship Foster Placement to allow
safeguarding to remain in place whilst a detailed viability assessment
of the prospective guardians' capabilities is conducted.
4.
Death of child under 3-years-old (Child U1) in January 2018. A post
mortem concluded that the death was a result of internal bleeding caused
by significant trauma impact to the abdomen. Partner of Child
U1's childminder was found guilty of the child's murder, and the
childminder was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a
child. Both received prison sentences. Child U1 was born in March 2016,
and had an older sibling who was under 4-years-old at the time of their
death. Child U1's father had no contact with the family. Child U1 first
attended hospital with an episode of minor gastro-intestinal bleeding in
April 2016. There were frequent hospital visits in 2016/17 including
surgery; initial concern regarding non-accidental injury (NAI) but this
was discounted and a medical cause was thought to be responsible. A
strategy meeting concluded that there were no safeguarding concerns in
relation to Child U1. Family are Mixed Race British. Key findings: a
decision that the injuries were due to a medical cause rather than NAI
meant professionals did not query an alternative diagnosis; deference to
the medical clinicians involved made challenging medical professionals
difficult. Recommendations highlight the need for: professional
curiosity, professional challenge and information sharing within and
between agencies; assessments to include an understanding of care
arrangements and an assessment of the carers; and an understanding of
differential diagnosis, and when bruising is present where NAI should be
considered.
5. Self-harm of a young female in June 2018. Young
Person B took a significant overdose of her prescription medication,
alongside over the counter medication, which caused a brain injury.
Young Person B was subject to periods of abuse and neglect from an early
age. She lived with her family until October 2017, when she moved in
with the mother of her boyfriend in an informal arrangement. Disengaged
from education early in 2017; prior to the overdose some instances of
less serious self-harming. Ethnicity or nationality not stated. Learning
includes: importance of ensuring representation from schools at child
protection conferences and in core groups even when the child or young
person is not attending school; importance of reviewing the impact of
child protection plans; the need to risk assess access to prescribed
medication for children and young people who self-harm; importance of
understanding the potential adverse impact of private fostering
arrangements not being assessed on the young foster person and on other
children in the family; persistent fear and anxiety caused by childhood
neglect impacts on children's ability to learn, solve problems and
relate to others, which undermines their ability to
manage further adversity in adolescence. Recommendations include: ensure
practitioners understand the features of adolescent neglect and review
the effectiveness of local approaches in addressing both chronic and
acute factors; ensure that the voice of the child is more consistently
acted upon; ensure private fostering is more effectively publicised
across the partnership and children are identified, assessed and
supported in their private fostering arrangement.
6.
Significant neglect of two siblings, including neglect of their
physical, emotional, social developmental, health and medical needs, Family
W. Both children had been the subject of child in need plans since
October 2016 and child protection plans under the category of neglect
since June 2017. Alcohol use and abuse were present in this family but
was not identified as a risk factor and addressed. Ethnicity or
nationality of family not stated. Learning includes: at times, the focus
was on the adults rather than the lived experiences of the children;
information sharing within and between agencies was not always
consistent; over-optimism about the likelihood of the adult carers
improving their care of the children; a lack of challenge to adult
family members which led to gaps in information. Identifies good
practice, including: direct work carried out by the school nurse, which
allowed the child's voice to be heard and shared; recognition by dentist
that one of the children's decayed teeth and bleeding gums were
indicative of neglect. Recommendations: highlights the improved outcomes
that have been identified and should be addressed, including:
multi-agency partners can evidence a shared responsibility for the
safeguarding and protection of children; multi-agency assessments, risk
assessments and effective safety plans are secured and monitored within
the child protection conference process, to ensure the best outcomes for
children; amending the pathway for capacity assessments of carers with
learning difficulties so that they can be undertaken at an earlier
stage.
7. Death of an 8-month-old girl in 2017. "Rose" was
transported to hospital by ambulance and shown to have a subdural bleed
reflecting severe brain trauma. Two days later life support was
withdrawn due to the severe brain injury. Mother charged with her murder
as well as offences from 2004. Mother known to services since 2015 when
pregnant with Daisy, Rose's sister. Father had a learning difficulty.
Rose born in 2016 after a concealed pregnancy. Mother was suspected of
serious injuries to a child in 2004, but after police investigation
Mother was not prosecuted for any criminal offences at the time.
Learning includes: consider opportunities to ensure disguised compliance
and focus on children to be examined regularly in staff supervision
meetings and reviewing desired outcomes for children; develop and
implement guidance relating to looked after children who sustain
injuries, including who should be informed and what action should be
taken; consider options for ensuring continued and meaningful engagement
of GP services throughout safeguarding processes; consider how
non-statutory voluntary organisations can be identified and included in
safeguarding processes; consider requiring the local authority to
complete and share the outcome of an analysis of children placed at
home, the circumstances and decisions which led to placements being
initiated and how compliance is monitored, to ensure the safety of all
children who are subject to home placement agreements. Ethnicity and
nationality not stated. Review does not include any recommendations.
8. Non-accidental head injury to a 2-year-old boy, Child
A, in February 2016. The injury was discovered during an unannounced
visit by a social worker. His mother had no explanation for the injury
and had not sought medical help. Child A lived with his mother and older
brother (Child A1) who was born in 2007. Both children were subject to
Child Protection Plans under the category of risk of emotional harm on
two separate occasions. Reports of incidents of domestic abuse as well
as the physical abuse of older brother by mother. Evidence of mother's
complex mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse and series of
abusive relationships. Child A1 is described as a young carer for his
mother and younger brother. Ethnicity or nationality of Child A is not
stated. Lessons learned include: the seriousness of the concerns and
risks to the children were not effectively communicated, shared or
addressed; professionals need to retain open minded curiosity and
consider all potential risks to children; and professionals should be
supported in considering the impact on them of working with people who
present as aggressive or with challenging behaviour. Recommendations
include: conduct a multi-agency review of the use of the category of
emotional harm in child protection plans; ensure
that professionals understand the purpose of the Core Group and Child
Protection Conference; and recognise the impact on practice when working
with adults with violent and aggressive behaviour or disguised
compliance.
Worthy of note
1. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that
Save the Children UK can begin bidding for UK aid funding again after
significantly improving its safeguarding standards.The charity
voluntarily withdrew from bidding for new Government funding in April
2018, after the Charity Commission launched an inquiry over concerns
about its handling of sexual harassment allegations against senior
staff.It came against a backdrop of revelations about sexual abuse,
exploitation and harassment in the aid sector in early 2018.
Save the
Children UK has taken significant steps to improve its approach to
safeguarding and meet the UK Government’s high standards since then.
This includes making safeguarding a key feature of staff training,
introducing a new set of behaviours it expects of leaders, and
increasing the size of its safeguarding HR team.
In addition, Save
the Children UK has signed up to the UK-backed Misconduct
Disclosure Scheme, which aims to stop perpetrators of sexual abuse
from moving around the aid sector undetected by allowing employers to
share misconduct data with each other.
The Foreign Secretary Dominic
Raab made clear today that the FCDO will maintain DFID’s high
safeguarding standards and take action if any charity fails to meet the
strict standards the UK expects of all its partners in future.
This
comes as he launches the UK
Strategy: Safeguarding Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual
Harassment within the Aid Sector, which sets out the approach for
tackling sexual abuse, exploitation and sexual harassment in all
aid-spending departments and across the charity sector, including within
UK aid-funded programmes delivered by external partners.
Like all
organisations that receive UK aid funding, Save the Children UK will
continue to be measured against the government’s strict safeguarding
standards, which will include providing evidence the charity has clear
processes for investigating any allegations of misconduct and protecting
whistle-blowers.
Oxfam also voluntarily withdrew from bidding for
Government funding in February 2018, after the Charity Commission
launched an inquiry into its handling of allegations of sexual
misconduct by senior staff during the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti
earthquake. The Charity Commission’s process to follow-up the
recommendations of its inquiry into Oxfam has not yet concluded.
2.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that
Steven Dixon, 39, of Ash Acre Meadows in Warrington used a DNA mouth
swab from a friend to send through to the Child Maintenance Service on 6
July 2018.
In October 2015 and February 2016, the Service had
received applications from two women claiming that Dixon was the father
of their sons and requesting support.
Steven Dixon was contacted by
the Service and he sent off for a DNA testing kit that was delivered to
Deerness Park Medical Group in Sunderland. He collected it himself and
then asked a friend to provide a DNA mouth swab.
He submitted the
swab to the Service with a form stating that the sample had been taken
by Dr Jon Kisler at a surgery called The Quays on Thelwall New Road in
Warrington on 6 July 2018. The form had been 'signed' by Dr Kisler.
In fact, Dr Jon Kisler had not completed a DNA test with Mr Dixon at any
time. In a witness statement, Dr Kisler said he had not completed the
form and the signature on it was not his. He had also never worked at
that surgery.
As a result of the fake test, the Child Maintenance
Service contacted the two women and said Dixon was not the biological
father of the two boys and could not be asked to provide financial
support.
But they contested this and an investigation began. A DNA
test of the two boys showed them to be half-brothers which strengthened
the women’s claims.
Dixon wrote to the Child Maintenance Service on
16 November 2018 saying: “The pursuit of myself from both you and my
ex-partners is now becoming tantamount to harassment… this pursuit is
now affecting my own life, as if it wasn’t traumatic enough on both
occasions to find out neither of these children were mine at the time,
when I believed them to be, to now having to re-live it all again and
even on having it proved by yourselves by DNA that they are not mine, to
then still be being pursued. It is simply not acceptable to be allowed
to continue.”
On 23 November 2018, a speculative search of the
National DNA database by police found the submitted mouth swab to match
with the DNA of a man called Kenny Jones.
Jones was arrested and said
that Dixon had asked him to provide the swab so that he could send it to
his alcoholic father, to try and prove he wasn’t his son. No money was
exchanged between the men.
Dixon was arrested on 18 July 2019 and
interviewed but denied the claims and said the doctor and the GP
practice manager were liars. He was taken into custody and a DNA sample
was taken which matched that of the two boys.
He pleaded guilty to
three counts of Making or Supplying Articles for Use in Frauds and today
(15 September 2020) at Chester Crown Court he was jailed for 18 months.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Maqsood Khan, of CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Fraud
Unit said: “Steven Dixon is a liar and a cheat who has gone to extensive
lengths to deny the parentage of his two sons.
“Investigations showed
that he had been at the birth of both of the boys and his signature was
on their birth certificates. Indeed he seems to have played a part in
their lives for a period.
“But that changed and he has now turned to
criminality to avoid his obligations to his children. His apparent
indignation at the work of the Child Maintenance Service to get to the
truth is audacious to say the least.
“His deception has no doubt
caused distress and hurt to the women and their children and he is now
behind bars. The Crown Prosecution Service hopes that this case shows
that those who try and lie and cheat their way out of their
responsibilities will face the consequences.”
3. Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for
England, is calling for the Government to change the law to stop
councils placing under 18s in care in unregulated accommodation. The
change would see all children in care who need a residential placement
housed in accommodation regulated under the same standards as children’s
homes, and would put an end to 16 and 17 year olds being placed in
bedsits, hostels and caravans.
The call comes as the Children’s
Commissioner publishes a report, ‘Unregulated:
Children in care living in semi-independent accommodation 2020’,
revealing how thousands of children in care are living in unregulated
independent or semi-independent accommodation. These settings are not
inspected and children living there often go without regular support
from adults. This accommodation can range from a flat to a hostel or
bedsit, and in the worst cases caravans, tents and in one case even a
barge. These looked after children are entitled to ‘support’ but not
‘care’, and as a result are too often being left to fend for themselves,
with minimal support, for all but a few hours a week.
As well as
calling for the use of semi-independent and independent provision to be
made illegal for all children in care, the report makes a number of
recommendations, including:
- Increasing capacity across the care system. It
is critical that the forthcoming Government Care Review promised in
the Conservative manifesto addresses the challenge of sufficiency of
appropriate care across the care system as a whole – especially
capacity in the residential care sector.
- Clarification of what care looks like for
children of different ages, including older teens. Ensuring that all
children in care receive care, rather than support, does not mean
refusing independence to older teens who are ready for it. For
example, it may be appropriate for children of this age to have more
freedom to come and go from home, and any curfew should be agreed by
negotiation rather than instruction – the same as with any 16 and 17
year old living at home with their parents. The current system does
not seem to allow this.
- Strengthening the role of Independent
Reviewing Officers (IROs). Councils have a duty to appoint an IRO to
every child in care. They are experienced social workers who oversee
and scrutinise the care plan of the child and ensure that everyone
who is involved in that child’s life fulfils his or her
responsibilities. It is important that IROs visit placements prior
to children being placed, in order to assess their suitability. This
would help prevent later placement breakdowns, which are highly
damaging to children and can be costly to resolve.
4. The Truth
Project, part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, provides
victims and survivors with an opportunity to share their account and
make suggestions to help better protect children in future. The Inquiry
is working to ensure that the Truth Project process is as accessible as
possible for everyone, and that people with neurological
differences are supported.
To help ensure every voice can be
heard, elements of the Truth Project process have been adapted, with
particular consideration toward communication, social communication,
structure and sensory experiences.
Participants can choose to share
their experience in a way that suits them, such as in writing, over the
phone, by video call or by attending an in-person session. Additional
support options have been developed to ensure that those who identify as
neurodiverse feel comfortable to access support from us. This includes
the option of video support calls.
In developing these adaptations,
we have been guided by a psychologist in the neurodevelopmental field,
and the Inquiry’s Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel.
To
protect the wellbeing of participants, in light of current government
restrictions, the Inquiry has had to make some changes to the way in
which we deliver in-person sessions.
5. Charities dealing with men who suffer
domestic abuse have seen pleas for help jump by up to 60% during the
lockdown.
The
Respect Men's Advice Line said some victims had told them they had
sought refuge by sleeping in cars or in tents in the gardens of friends
or relatives.The charity said it had received 13,812 calls and emails
between April and July in lockdown compared to 8,648 in the same period
in 2019.
Respect's Ippo Panteloudakis said the pandemic had made the
problem worse.
He said: "It was absolutely clear the lockdown period
exacerbated everyone's domestic abuse experiences.
"They were talking
about increases in violence, increases in psychological abuse and
becoming homeless as a result of the domestic abuse and not having
anywhere to go.
"We had reports from men sleeping in their cars
overnight or sleeping in their friends' or parents' gardens in tents."
The advice line said the biggest increase in contact with abuse victims
came through emails and the service saw the volume increase by 96% from
372 emails in June 2019 to 728 in June 2020.
On average it received
22 emails a day and 92 phone calls as the lockdown took hold from April
to June.
Bradford-based charity Men
Standing Up takes male domestic abuse referrals from across the
country and has so-called crash pads and emergency accommodation for men
for up to 14 days.
For information and support on domestic abuse,
contact:
6. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has
been ordered to pay a total of £12,565 after admitting it failed to
disclose details relating to a surgical procedure or apologise,
following the death of a 91-year-old woman.
The trust was fined
£1,600, a £120 victim surcharge and ordered to pay £10,845.43 court
costs at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court today (Wednesday, 23 September), in
the first prosecution of its kind.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
brought the prosecution after it emerged that the trust failed to share
details of what happened to Elsie Woodfield prior to her death at
Derriford Hospital, in Plymouth, following an unsuccessful endoscopy
procedure. The trust also failed to apologise to Mrs Woodfield’s family
within a reasonable timeframe.
Under the Health and Social Care Act,
duty of candour (Regulation 20), care providers must act with openness
and transparency, and provide a timely apology to people receiving care,
or their relatives, in the event of a serious incident.
Nigel
Acheson, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said:
“All care
providers have a duty to be open and transparent with patients and their
loved ones, particularly when something goes wrong, and this case sends
a clear message that we will not hesitate to take action when that does
not happen.
“Patients and their families are entitled to the truth
and a formal written apology as soon as is practical after a serious
incident, and the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust’s failure to
fulfil this duty is why CQC took this action.
“This is the first time
CQC has prosecuted an NHS trust for failure to comply with the
regulation concerning duty of candour, and we welcome the outcome of
today’s hearing.”
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