Subgroups
Quality and Assurance
Established in the summer of 2022, the aim of this subgroup is to develop a programme to provide assurance to the board that local safeguarding arrangements are effective, and that safeguarding practice continues to improve and enhance the quality of life for adults with care and support needs in line with making safeguarding personal.
During 2023/24, the main focus of work was on a peer review.
The group has been working closely with the insight and analytics team at Norfolk County Council in the development of a safeguarding adults dashboard. The dashboard is up and running and has been modified to include several effectiveness measures that align to the responsibilities in NSAB's strategic plan. The subgroup will feed back pertinent data to board members at the bimonthly meetings.
Self-Neglect and Hoarding
This subgroup was formed in 2021, in part as a response to the number of safeguarding adult referrals coming through where self-neglect and /or hoarding was a theme.
'Self-neglect' and 'hoarding' are distinct terms, with self-neglect being a relatively broad category of behaviours, and hoarding being a more specific behaviour that may become a form of self-neglect.
The purpose of this multi agency group is to coordinate and lead county and system wide best practice on the topic, in line with statutory guidance. It supports key partners to identify and discuss safeguarding issues affecting those individuals with self-neglect and hoarding behaviours.
In 2024, the group held its first face to face event, which was incredibly popular. People from many different organisations and agencies came together to share, listen and work through some cases. Read more here
You can read more about self-neglect and hoarding in our multi-agency strategy document (revised May 2025) and our helpful Practitioner Guide.
Safeguarding Adults Review Group
The safeguarding adults review group (or SARG as it is often known) meets every month and is attended by senior representatives from health, Norfolk Constabulary and adult social care, as well as the NSAB board manager, chairperson and administrator. The group also has legal representation from Nplaw. During meetings, the group will consider any SAR referrals that have been received and also discuss any ongoing SARs, multi-agency and single agency reviews. It's an opportunity for representatives to share and discuss any evidence that their agency has on the particular cases that have been referred. Conversation and debate can be quite lively as the details of the cases are discussed. Sometimes it can take several months in order to receive all of the information required from agencies to enable the group to reach a decision on whether a Safeguarding Adult Review should be carried out.
All referrals and investigations are captured and actions from them are recorded on a composite action plan. The group will meet approximately three times a year to discuss recommendations and actions from completed SARs to ensure that learning from them is rolled out.