The requirement for Safeguarding Adults Boards to undertake Safeguarding Adults Reviews is set out in Section 44 of the Care Act. Their purposes is to ‘promote effective learning and improvement action to prevent future deaths or serious harm occurring again’. The aim is that lessons can be learned from the case and for those lessons to be applied to future cases to prevent similar harm re-occurring.
If you have received a request for information to assist with a Safeguarding Adults Review, you can share relevant information if you can answer yes to each of the following questions:
If you have been asked for information by a Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB), you have the power to share relevant information. Indeed there is a legal obligation on organisations to contribute to safeguarding adults reviews as set out in Section 44(5) and Section 45 of the Care Act:
Section 44(5) states: Each member of the SAB must co-operate in and contribute to the carrying out of a review under this section with a view to —
- identifying the lessons to be learnt from the adult’s case, and
- applying those lessons to future cases.
Section 45 states: If an SAB requests a person to supply information to it, or to some other person specified in the request, the person to whom the request is made must comply with the request if —
- the request is made for the purpose of enabling or assisting the SAB to exercise its functions.
- If that the request is made to a person whose functions or activities the SAB considers to be such that the person is likely to have information relevant to the exercise of a function by the SAB.
Although there is a legal obligation to share information for the purposes of a Safeguarding Adults Review, it is still appropriate to consider if the sharing of the particular information is justified and necessary for the purposes of the review. In practice however, this is often an extension of question one. Consider:
- Is there a clear purpose for sharing this information?
- Is the sharing of this information reasonable way to achieve that purpose?
- Is the sharing fair, i.e. is sharing data something people would reasonably expect?
- Have I only shared the information that is necessary to share? You should always ensure you share no more information than is necessary to achieve your purpose.
Thirdly, the information shared should be accurate so as to present a fair picture of circumstances and enable informed decision-making. In order to be accurate, it must also be up-to-date. Data entries should also be complete, or indicate where information is missing.
Finally, can you physically share the information securely? Information should be shared according to organisational policies and local arrangements. However, guidance on how to share information securely is included in the Appendix.