Adult Support and Protection Inspection
Inspection of Services
A joint inspection of Adult Support and Protection arrangements in Shetland took place between October 2022 and March 2023. The inspection was carried out jointly by the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland. The focus of the inspection was whether adults in Shetland who may be at risk of harm are safe, protected and supported.
The inspection findings were very positive and highlighted some key strengths:
- Adults at risk of harm nearly always experienced improvements to their safety, health and wellbeing;
- There were strong investigation and case conference processes in place for managing risks for adults;
- There was strong collaborative working between services to support adults at risk of harm;
- Processes for addressing financial harm were effective, including raising awareness in the community of financial scams;
- Arrangements for providing adult support and protection services during the COVID-19 pandemic were well organised, and adults at risk of harm remained a priority throughout this challenging period;
- The strategic leadership team worked effectively to identify priorities for improvement in the delivery of services to adults at risk of harm.
There were two areas for improvement identified:
- To strengthen some of their initial inquiry processes once referrals were made into Social Work
- To update the vision and improvement planning which is led by the Shetland Public Protection Committee, to give more focus to adult support and protection.