Isle of Wight review

That Hampshire Constabulary remind all officers and staff of the importance of fully understanding the nature of domestic abuse and applying the principles of the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice regarding counter allegations in domestic abuse investigations, thereby enabling them to risk assess and offer services to all vulnerable victims.

Once embedded, Hampshire Constabulary should audit the compliance with the elements of the Domestic Abuse Force Action Plan surrounding the assessment of risk, thresholds and interventions so as to ensure a consistent and evidence based approach to risk assessment, clarity around supervision and robust and proportionate interventions for those victims at all levels risk. This should include ensuring that efforts are made to reveal the prevalence of unreported abuse, for example from neighbours or others connected with the parties involved.

Hampshire Constabulary should, as part of its drive to promote positive action, ensure that any intervention around domestic abuse, both as part of the investigation and safeguarding responses, includes enquiries being made to reveal the prevalence of any unreported abuse so as to assist in establishing a fuller history and a more accurate identification of risk thereby enabling appropriate interventions to be made.

That Hampshire Constabulary audit the quality of the new single risk form to ensure that its implementation has improved information sharing with partners and is enabling a more holistic risk assessment process.

That Hampshire Constabulary, Isle of Wight Council and Hampshire County Council together with the respective Clinical Commissioning Groups develops mechanisms, whether through MASH or otherwise, to ensure that risk and vulnerability of children and adults, including domestic abuse victims, is dynamically and collectively assessed and information shared across all relevant agencies so that meaningful multi-agency action plans are developed and delivered as a consequence.

That Hampshire Constabulary strengthen its guidance surrounding the impact of substance misuse in relationships, the nature of co-dependence of those who suffer from disorders related to addiction and effective interventions to support them so as to protect vulnerable people in such settings.

That South Central Ambulance Service review its guidance to staff regarding their responsibilities to identify vulnerable people when they encounter them and their subsequent responsibility to raise safeguarding concerns through the established routes in such cases.

That Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust review their guidance surrounding, and its professionals’ compliance with, Recommendation 6 of the National Institute for Healthcare and Excellence (NICE) public health guidance 50 – Domestic Violence and Abuse Multi Agency Working, regarding making routine enquires into domestic abuse.

As a basic principle of emergency response, South Central Ambulance Service should work with Wightlink to ensure that there is a mutual understanding of how to access ferry terminals and that Wightlink reinforce their operating instructions that ensure that emergency services are called to the first available terminal and that sick passengers are not carried back to the port of embarkation prior to receiving medical attention.

The Local Safeguarding Children Board should consider the issues raised in this report (specifically those highlighted in paragraph 2.12.25) and assure itself that, through the improvement journey the Isle of Wight Children’s Services are on, such measures are in place to have radically reduced the possibility of similar issues from occurring again and that mechanisms are in place to address them should they re-occur.

That Sovereign Housing examines how it enables tenants to report to them concerns around crime and anti social behaviour connected with their or another’s tenancy so as to ensure there is clarity and confidence in the reporting mechanisms such that Sovereign are aware of the range and nature of behaviour and escalate their intervention as appropriate.

That the commissioners and providers of Isle of Wight drugs and alcohol treatment services examine the feasibility of ensuring that multiple offers of service are made in varied ways based on the hypothesis that some clients may respond to different types of approach thereby increasing the likelihood of engagement.

NHS England and the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group should ensure that primary care providers undertake proactive medication reviews with all patients especially those who have added vulnerabilities or who have demonstrated poor compliance.

That NHS England and the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, develop mandatory workforce development measures for Primary Care to ensure that the knowledge and understanding of the prevalence and risk factors around domestic abuse are fully understood enabling them to embed the NICE Quality Standards on domestic violence and abuse into practice.

That NHS England and the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group remind primary care practitioners of the importance of attaching relevant read codes to patients records to ensure that vulnerabilities or specific needs are clear and accessible to all clinicians.

That NHS England and the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group remind primary care practitioners of the importance of complying with Recommendation 6 of the National Institute for Healthcare and Excellence (NICE) public health guidance 50 – Domestic Violence and Abuse Multi Agency Working, regarding making routine enquires into domestic abuse and finding opportunities to do so safely.

That Hampshire Adults Social Care ensure that in the event of them receiving incomplete safeguarding referrals or concerns that they challenge those agencies providing them to submit the information required to enable them to undertake effective assessments.

That the Isle of Wight and Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) develop clear and simple referral pathways for all agencies and professionals who encounter vulnerable adults and/ or those with safeguarding needs (including those who may fall below eligibility thresholds.) That the SABs then ensure agencies take responsibility to use these so as to enable effective multi agency information sharing and planning which provides the most appropriate services to meet the identified need. This should be underpinned by the Hampshire SABs Multi Agency Risk Management Framework