Sandwell review

That the Sandwell Children’s Safeguarding Partnership include a new annexe in the Sandwell Threshold Guidance document, that assists all professionals to understand, identify and assess the Early Help needs of the whole family in relation to CPA and promotes age-appropriate responses to child safeguarding.

That the CPA Guidance currently being developed in Sandwell builds upon the current Home Office Guidance, by describing how Sandwell agencies should respond to CPA in a multi-disciplinary and holistic way, recognising both child and adult safeguarding, as well as the importance of a ‘Whole Family’ approach to assessing that family’s needs and wishes concerning CPA. The guidance should recognise that appropriate responses would take into full account the vulnerabilities of both the child and the adult and should be regularly reviewed where risks remain, as a child moves into adolescence or becomes a young adult.

That a multi-agency case study-based training package on CPA be created that could be delivered to frontline professionals, having as its objectives to increase understanding of CPA and awareness of best practice in line with the new Sandwell Guidance on CPA.

That the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHFT) should review existing pathways into the Trust’s mental health support and update them where necessary, and promote those pathways with the Black Country & West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Groups and all Hospital Trusts referring into BCHFT:
• The pathways should facilitate professionals in Primary Care teams and Hospital Trusts with Emergency Departments, to make appropriate and timely referrals into the Trust Mental Health services.
• It should enable those same professionals to correctly advise families when and if they can access mental health support for a family member who has capacity, where that person is either compliant or non-compliant.
• It should identify how professionals and families (including ‘nearest relatives’) should access emergency assessment and potentially treatment, where they believe that family member to have a mental disorder of such a nature and degree that they are at risk of harm to themselves or others.
• The pathways should also clearly identify to the public when and if self-referral into Trust services, or referral into mental health services on behalf of a family members, are appropriate.

The Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust should ensure that their practitioners are aware of the scope and application of section 13(4) of the Mental Health Act and are aware and can advise in relation to when it may be appropriate for the ‘nearest relative’ seek an assessment from a Local Authority AMHP. The advice should complement current guidance to primary and secondary care in relation to seeking access to mental health support for patients.

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Adult Social Care and Birmingham City Council Adult Social Care should ensure and provide assurances that pathways and online guidance to section 13(4) MHA ‘nearest relative’ assessments requests are clear and accurate, properly publicised and understood by call handlers receiving requests for such support as well as those managing and providing this service within Adult Social Care.