A broken door handle …

Estimated reading time: under 5 minutes

As I was on my way out to watch Norwich City FC play Middlesbrough (which turned out to be not the best game of football I have supported), I shut the kitchen door that leads to the utility area and bathroom. There was an odd clicking sound.

Curious, I turned the door knob again and it didn’t work. The door was stuck shut! Oh no. I twisted the door knob again and again, pushing and pulling. It made no difference, that door was not opening.

I called my wife and together we tried again from the other side of the door (reached by going out of the front of the house and walking all the way round the back), but had absolutely no joy. The door knob isn’t a complex mechanism, but I can’t claim any detailed knowledge of how they work or how to fix them. It is something which is just there and works. Until it doesn’t. Then you are stymied.

My wife says, ‘YouTube - that’s what we need! … Let’s see how to open it from a YouTube video’.

And that is what many of us do these days: look up essential information on the internet. Whatever the DIY problem, someone will have uploaded a how-to video on YouTube, to show you what to do.

So, I left for the football, leaving my wife to peruse the dozens of YouTube clips that came up in response to the search ‘How to open a door knob stuck shut’.  

As I walked to join my friends for a bite to eat before the match, I was thinking about where we go for essential information on safeguarding adults. I hope readers of this blog will say:

'Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s website!'

Like all SABs, the NSAB website has developed and grown over the last few years, and all credit must go to Becky and Andrea from the board business team. They have worked very hard to make it the essential go-to place for information that supports the partnership on adult safeguarding. While we continue to improve the website’s functionality (the search function is a bit clunky), I think the information on there is really helping the partnership with their safeguarding responsibilities. This is very much a live and growing resource.

The NSAB website now has 189 plus pages and about 2,000 visitors per month. In recent months, the most visited pages have been:

• Training, other events and conferences page, particularly for signup of NSAB webinars
• Safeguarding Adult Reviews, particularly the SAR for Joanna, Jon and Ben
• Information on the types of abuse, including self-neglect and hoarding, and domestic abuse and older adults
• Resources, leaflets and posters
• Mental capacity and safeguarding

And, from time to time, my blog makes the top 3 visited pages in the month!

It seems that the site’s essential safeguarding material is not just reaching a Norfolk audience, but other safeguarding adults boards (SABs) too. Since January, 14 SABs have got in touch for permission to adapt NSAB materials for their own area. We just ask for a credit or acknowledgement to NSAB.

In the same way that a YouTube video shows us what we need to know to get the door open, here is my list of essential information from the NSAB website that everyone needs to know about (or where to find it in case they need it):

1)       Key information for raising a safeguarding concern

2)       A checklist for raising a concern & FAQs

3)      End to end process from raising a concern through to a Section 42 enquiry (scroll down the page)

4)       Making Safeguarding Personal guidance (again scroll down the page)

5)       Safeguarding with a big ‘S’ v safeguarding with a small ‘s’

6)       Information on mental capacity and safeguarding page

7)       Tools to help you start conversations on different topics – the Tricky Friends and Hidden Harms animations

So, can you help us build the awareness of this essential list with one quick and easy action?

Action 1: tell your colleagues about the NSAB website – either by forwarding on this blog or just copying and pasting the list above and sharing it by email.

If you have already seen the documents on my ‘essential list’ ... 

I would really like to hear from you with an example of how you have used the information or advice from the website in your practice. Just a few lines would be helpful, as we are trying more and more to understand and show the website’s impact.

Being an Active Bystander

Mentioning Norwich City Football Club, I just wanted to highlight a great piece of work being done by the NCFC Head of Safeguarding,
Gary Dack. It is an approach called Be an Active Bystander, and I think we could apply the idea more widely in our safeguarding work.
Nice one Gary, well done.

Walter Lloyd-Smith

NSAB Board Manager

Email: [email protected]

PS – A thank you to all of you who got in touch from the October blog to ask how my family was doing. I was very appreciative that you asked, they are doing ok.