Members of the SSAB
The Independent Chair
It is an honour to have been appointed as the Independent Chair of the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board as from April 2023. My focus over the next few months will be to meet with
Board partners to understand more about the current and emerging risks in Surrey, to learn about what partner agencies feel is working well and also where changes or improvements are needed to ensure effective partnership responses in these challenging times.
As a former Director of Adult Social Services, as well as in my current work, I have a strong belief in the value and strength of the collaborative approach that Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) provide. In addition to my work with SABs over the last few years I have undertaken specific projects in health, social care and safeguarding for government departments, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Social Services. Previously I have held a range of senior and leadership roles in both the statutory and voluntary sectors and I am committed to working in co-production with people with lived experience. I very much look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, whether individually or at meetings in the coming months and to working with you to ensure that Surrey is a safe place to live for everyone.
Teresa Bell
Independent Chair
Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board
The SSAB
Beneath the Board are a series of subgroups and forums who are tasked with delivering the Boards agenda. These groups cover: –
- Adult Safeguarding Executive
- Safeguarding Adult Review Decision Panel
- Chairs Group
- Communications Group
- Quality Assurance Group
- Policy and Training Group
- Safeguarding Adults Review and Learning Group
- District and Borough Forum
- Engagement Forum
- Health Forum
- Prison Forum
The areas covered by Safeguarding are wide, from abuse that physical, domestic, psychological, sexual, financial, neglect including self-neglect, modern slavery, discriminatory or organisational abuse.
Our task is always to make sure that prevention strategies are strong and support people at their time of need. This includes making sure their needs are the centre of any discussion, ensuring they are able to make decisions as to their support for themselves and if not that the right support is put in place.
Safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility and our strategies are built to support this aim. examples of this would be:-
- Improving agencies knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act.
- Building multi-agency working to ensure strong information sharing and best practice.
- Working with agencies who directly support our residents via user feedback. This could come from bodies such as Healthwatch, the Fire Service using their home visits to ensure those in need are quickly supported via the referral system, and Trading Standards who have developed a national initiative to focus on scamming and fraud of the elderly by unscrupulous individuals who exploit this group..
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) that is the principal point of contact for all Safeguarding enquiries. This hub really adds value as it is able to share data across key agencies and respond quickly to ensure the need is addressed and then capture information which the Board can use to improve it focus on areas of risk.
The agenda is challenging but critical to ensuring our most vulnerable residents are kept safe but all our members are very focused on ensuring we deliver effectively against our remit.
The Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board maintains an up-to-date list of each organisation’s safeguarding lead to support information sharing across professionals. If you require a copy of this list please contact the SSAB. Members of the public should go via the MASH to be directed to the appropriate point of contact.
The following organisations are members of the board:
