The Brent Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) is prioritising self-neglect and substance misuse, alongside housing, as key areas of focus for the coming year. The announcement came during a recent Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee meeting where the board's annual report was discussed.
Nicola Brownjohn, Independent Chair for Brent Safeguarding Adults Board, presented the SAB's annual report, emphasising the board's strategic role in supporting effective safeguarding arrangements. We don't actually deliver any services at all in Brent,
Ms. Brownjohn explained. We're not operational. It's very strategic.
The board's strategic priorities include self-neglect, substance misuse and housing, and learning from Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs).
To address these priorities in 2025/26, the SAB will undertake specific actions:
- Self-Neglect: Publication of a revised self-neglect protocol, dissemination of learning across the system, liaison with voluntary groups, scrutiny of safeguarding data, multi-agency audits, and gathering feedback from those with lived experience.
- Housing Need and Substance Misuse: Ensuring clear pathways are in place to provide appropriate housing for those who misuse substances and ensuring practitioners across agencies have confidence in escalating concerns regarding safeguarding. The SAB will also seek feedback from those with lived experience of substance misuse.
During the meeting, Councillor Kanta Mistry raised concerns about the accessibility of the SAB report and inquired about lessons learned from specific cases related to substance misuse and housing. Ms. Brownjohn responded that the Mark, Stephen, and Joanna cases highlighted the critical need for appropriate housing for individuals with substance misuse issues, adding that the board is collaborating with housing services and public health to address this. Councillor Mistry also asked about the police's role in substance misuse cases, and Ms. Brownjohn explained that the police were involved in issues like cuckooing.
Councillor Rochelle highlighted the need for a more detailed assessment of improvements made over the past three years, with performance indicators. Ms Brownjohn explained that a subgroup was looking at performance data, focusing on areas like self-neglect.
The Northwest London ICB (Integrated Care Board) also has specific roles in safeguarding adults in Brent, including:
- Sharing learning from serious incidents.
- Involving Designated Safeguarding Adults Leads in commissioning processes.
- Supporting multi-agency forums.
- Taking a leading role in learning discussions within suicide prevention forums.
- Promoting a strong messaging culture.
- Ensuring learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) is embedded into core safeguarding training.
- Supporting service design and bid development.
The SAB ensures lessons learned from Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) are implemented through a 'Task and Finish' approach, learning dissemination, multi-agency forums, training and briefings, monitoring and review, and strategic integration.
Detective Superintendent Will Lexington-Jones of the Metropolitan Police, Darren Jones, Director of Nursing within Northwest London ICB, and Claudia Brown, Operational Director of Adult Social Care, Brent Council, also contributed to the discussion, outlining their respective agencies' roles in safeguarding.
Catherine Pickford, Archdeacon of Northolt/Willesden Area, Church of England Faith Schools, representing Healthwatch, raised concerns that communities still feared disclosing safeguarding concerns due to fear of loss of services or work. Ms. Brownjohn responded that the board was working to improve community engagement and communication.
To address the fear of disclosing safeguarding concerns, the SAB is working with Healthwatch, Brent Council Community Safety, and Brent Health Matters to identify key community groups to meet and gather feedback. The goal is to make community feedback a standard practice for the SAB. The community engagement project is scheduled to finish in November, with an event planned to share findings with local communities. This feedback will inform the SAB's future priorities and actions.
Councillor Arshad Mahmood asked how widely the community had been engaged so far. Ms Brownjohn explained that she had been working with Healthwatch to identify community groups and had met with several groups, including a women's group and a dementia cafe.
Recommendations were made to co-produce priorities with those with lived experience and commission a multi-agency led safeguarding awareness campaign.
