Minutes:
Andrew Ellery, Service Manager MASH and Assessment at Bracknell Forest Council attending the meeting to update on the MASH.
The MASH Board met every 4-6 weeks for Senior Managers to maintain operational oversight. Dip sampling had been planned to assess the quality of decision making in the MASH.
The MASH Duty and Assessment team was mid-transformation, and a trial was planned for the new arrangements on the week commencing 22 July 2019. All Early Help referrals into the Local Authority would go through the MASH in order to prevent any disjoint between the two services. If the trial was successful, this practice would be rolled out.
The MASH would benefit from Early Help involvement in order to fully understand and implement thresholds.
Strategy meetings for cases were to be held within 1 working day (with some flexibility around cases involving fabricated illness), and the quality of having face-to-face strategy meetings was recognised.
MASH performance data had improved, with 90% of contacts dealt with within 1 working day. It was noted that when the MASH included Early Help, the ambition was to contact all cases within 24 hours but partners recognised that this was only statutory for Children’s Social Care cases.
There had been an increase in confidential MASH enquiries, and consent in these cases had been discussed. Conversations between professionals and referees in these cases were being reassessed to clearly explain the process. 86% of MASH confidential enquiries had been responded to within 24 hours.
The number of Section 47 enquiries which lead to an Initial Child Protection Conference was at 58% in the year to date, and the Board commented that this upward trend was reassuring, and demonstrated appropriate referrals.
Initial Child Protection Conferences held within 15 days had increased, and was a significant focus of the service currently. Andrew commented that partners had supported this process, which was welcomed.
The social worker role in the MASH was now an Assistant Team Manager role, which would be used to manage dedicated MASH workers. Previously the management of MASH staff had rotated between Team Managers.
Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust had reviewed their referral processes in light of the JTAI, and had been fully engaged in MASH work. Andrew commented that Health Visitor attendance at the MASH had much improved, and BHFT had fed back that the process had been positive. A Health Visitor was now based in the MASH at peak times, and was included in daily strategy meetings. Strategy meeting conference call technology was being reviewed to encourage participation where partners could not attend.
The arrangements with Police involvement in the MASH were being reviewed, and Police colleagues were now present in the MASH and were trialling attendance at strategy meetings. This arrangement would continue to be assessed.
A Manager Review was due to be introduced into the MASH to review cases with workers every 30 days.
The Early Help Hub had been reconfigured to form Early Help Panels, which was hoped to encourage families to go to the Early Help Panel to access multi-agency support.
It was hoped that Motivational Interviewing training would be introduced to colleagues in Housing, and to Family Support Advisors and Designated Safeguarding Leads in schools.
Arising from discussion, the following points were noted:
· The CQC inspector in the Children Looked After inspection in Slough had fed back that MASH working was effective across East Berkshire CCG.
· The What Works Centre had now engaged Bracknell Forest with four other Local Authority to gather data in respect of MASH processes for learning. The What Works Centre would establish a data dashboard around Children’s Social Care.
· The Board welcomed a positive update following the JTAI.
· Jonathan and Andrew agreed to establish a reporting route for MASH updates in future, in the new safeguarding arrangements. (Action: Jonathan Picken and Andrew Ellery)
· The Board recognised an opportunity to audit referrals in a multi-agency approach, and to include adult services as in the Family Safeguarding Model.
· Jonathan Picken reported that Thames Valley Police had found difficulties in supporting the MASH arrangements in different Local Authorities with different approaches. The Police support for the MASH was part of a wider TVP review.
· The system of National Alerts was being reviewed as arising from a Serious Case Review undertaken by Surrey LSCB. It was critical to keep an audit trail of National Alerts and their responses.
· The Board recognised that in summary, there would be no changes to the MASH procedure which would affect partner agencies or referrals.