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This article examines the effectiveness of the multi‐agency approach in adult protection and draws on findings from research that examined the effectiveness of both partnership working and perceptions of the regulatory framework to protect vulnerable adults. The research findings were collected through the use of a survey of all local councils with social services responsibilities in England and Wales. Examples of good practice in partnership working were found. However, resource pressures, insufficient information sharing and a lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities were reported to hinder a multi‐agency approach.

Little is known about the relationship between organisations charged with the protection of vulnerable adults in England and Wales. This paper investigates adult protection1 inter‐agency relationships in the context of an adult protection framework that gave local authorities the lead role and charged other agencies with working in partnership with them. The data reported are from focus groups undertaken with members of 26 Adult Protection Committees (APCs) from England and Wales during 2005‐2006. The APCs were selected using a stratified sampling frame and 271 professionals participated. Analysis revealed that participation in the local strategic decision‐making setting of the APC was influenced by the local history of partnership working, information‐sharing, affective relationships, understanding of respective roles and a shared acknowledgement of the importance of adult protection. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of government reviews of local discretion around adult protection systems.

This paper aims to describe the development and evaluation of a resource for use by practitioners to self‐evaluate their policy and practice in relation to the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007.

The self‐evaluation resource was developed in the context of multi‐agency adult protection policy and legislation to reflect key quality indicators relevant to stakeholders, the community, practitioners and their agencies.

The quality indicators were selectively piloted by 15 of the 28 multiagency partners in Scotland. The utility of the resource was demonstrated and in some cases the outcomes led to changes in policy and practice. The effect of resource restrictions was reported to have a bearing on the utility of the resource in some partnerships.

The quality indicators were not equally piloted with participants focusing on evaluation of case outcomes rather than wider structural and agency‐wide aspects of adult protection.

The adult protection, self‐evaluation resource has been identified as a potential means of enabling multi‐agency partnerships to establish the effectiveness of their own policy and practice and offers the potential for cross‐Scotland comparisons and bench marking.

The resource provides the basis for self‐evaluation and improvement in adult support and protection that will make the lives of adults at risk of harm safer.

An innovative approach is described to enable self‐evaluation by adult protection practitioners and policy makers to judge the effectiveness of their own performance and ensure improved performance.

As Safeguarding Adults, the national framework of standards of good practice in adult protection, begins to take root in the language and culture of organisations, the need for an evidence base for best practice becomes increasingly important. This article examines the practice data currently generated in three safeguarding adults partnership areas with specific regard to the Safeguarding Adults plan. This process, prior to the clarification of language by Safeguarding Adults, may have been referred to as the ‘case conference’ or ‘review’. Data was gathered from focus groups of safeguarding managers from local unitary authorities. Themes emerged across the groups and, via the use of grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the themes were analysed to highlight the key issues and pressures for those operating within this role.

Kent was one of the first social services departments to develop a specific adult protection policy in 1987. This paper charts the development of policy and references key landmarks on this journey from the perspective of the policy manager's role. Opportunities are also taken to identify the key learning from this experience and the main challenges for the newly emerging safeguarding agendas.

This article updates a review submitted to the Department of Health (DH) in the light of the House of Commons Health Select Committee report on Elder Abuse. The review drew on recent research about elder abuse in the UK, including research published after the Select Committee's hearings, that made specific recommendations for areas of development in research and policy. The aim of this paper is to address specific questions posed by the Select Committee in light of developments up to mid 2005.

This article reports on the views of 92 social workers about their practice in adult protection in England and Wales as part of a wider study of adult protection working and regulation that took place between 2004‐2007 in 26 sample local authorities. The article explores social workers' reported experiences of partnership or multiagency working and how this, along with overarching regulatory frameworks, affected their practice within and across agencies. Among findings from the study were that social workers considered that sharing information and responsibilities led to positive outcomes for service users and that the incorporation of different agency perspectives supplemented sharing of best practice.

Behaviour that is in fact adult abuse may be reported through a number of different frameworks (for example complaints procedures and incident reporting procedures) without it being realised that adult protection procedures need to be activated as well. This paper will examine how adult abuse can be reported through the disciplinary framework, and therefore how adult protection and the disciplinary process need to be joined.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the importance of professional curiosity and partnership work in safeguarding adults from serious harm, abuse and neglect.

The paper draws on a range of materials including: review of published materials in relation to professional curiosity, reports from adult serious case reviews (SCRs) and safeguarding adult reviews (SARs); relevant materials drawn from the SAR Library, thematic reviews of SARs and Google searches; observations from practice and experience. It also refers to the relevant academic literature.

Lessons from SCRs and SARs show that a lack of professional curiosity and poor coordination of support can lead to poor assessments and intervention measures that can fail to support those at risk of harm and abuse. There are a number of barriers to professionals practicing with curiosity. Working in partnership enhances the likelihood that professional curiosity will flourish.

There are clear implications for improving practice by increasing professional curiosity amongst professionals. The authors argue that there is a scope to improve professional curiosity by utilising and developing existing partnerships, and ultimately to help reduce the number of deaths and incidents of serious harm.

The paper considers the importance of employing professional curiosity and partnership work in safeguarding adults’ practice, so enabling practitioners to better safeguard adults at risk of abuse and neglect.

The purpose of the paper is to improve the consistency and quality of the response to vulnerable adults who experience abuse and neglect within NHS, independent healthcare and social care settings is noted by practitioners, agencies and patients. Health and social care policy frameworks promote principles of service improvement and consistency, along with a focus on outcomes and resource effectiveness and interagency collaboration. The Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) coordinator role carries the responsibility of coordinating a response to individual referrals of abuse and neglect as described as part of the Designated Lead Manager role in the Wales Interim POVA Policy and Procedures for the POVA from abuse (Wales Adult Protection Coordinators Group, 2013).

This paper will explore the benefits realised through a registered nurse being seconded from the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board into a newly created joint adult protection Health Coordinator post within the Caerphilly County Borough Council social services department POVA team.

This is the first example of such partnership working in adult protection in Wales and has provided a number of benefits in relation to: providing adult protection advice; coordinating the response to referrals of vulnerable adult abuse and neglect within health and social care settings; carrying out or buddying others to complete adult protection investigations; facilitating the two day non-criminal POVA investigation training course and, awareness raising within the local Health Board. The development of a student nurse placement in the social services POVA team cements the multiagency collaborative approach that this development sought to achieve.

The need to improve the consistency and quality of the response to vulnerable adults who experience abuse and neglect within NHS, independent healthcare and social care settings is noted by practitioners, agencies and patients.