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As part of the Journal's series of profiles of UK organisations working in the field of vulnerable adults and adult abuse the work of the Ann Craft Trust (formerly NAPSAC) is outlined by it's Director and Co‐ordinator. As one of the UK's first campaigning and educational organisations for adult protection, the Trust can justifiably claim some credit for the upturn in awareness and policy development over the last decade.

This paper seeks to report some of the findings from an evaluation of adult safeguarding in one English local authority. The evaluation was commissioned in the context of concern regarding the number of safeguarding investigations that resulted in inconclusive outcomes.

All adult social care teams in the local authority were asked to complete a short pro forma about the five most recent adult safeguarding alerts that they had managed to completion. Data collected included: characteristics of the alleged victim and alleged perpetrator; details of the professionals involved; whether or not a safeguarding plan meeting/case conference was held; and the outcome of any investigation. Respondents were also asked to comment on factors that they perceived to have helped or hindered the investigation.

Findings suggest that a significant number of variables influence the likelihood of cases resulting in a conclusive outcome. These variables included not only the characteristics of alleged victims, but also elements of safeguarding practice – including inter‐agency co‐operation, social workers' pre‐existing knowledge of the alleged victim, and the convening of safeguarding plan meetings. A failure to actively involve alleged victims in the safeguarding process was also noted.

This is a relatively small sample from a single local authority.

This is the first study to provide qualitative evidence about the factors which influence the success or otherwise of adult safeguarding practice. The findings are likely to be of value to professionals working in adult safeguarding who are seeking to understand “what works” in managing investigations following safeguarding alerts.

In recent years a variety of methods have been used to review cases where a vulnerable adult has died or been seriously harmed, the method chosen largely depending upon whether a single agency or multi-agency approach is required. Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) are more frequently used in cases requiring a multi-agency approach; however, their effectiveness in terms of being timely, value for money and a means of learning lessons has been questioned. Safeguarding Adult Boards (SAB) in the East Midlands have sought alternative means for reviewing some cases including the Significant Incident Learning Process (SILP). The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of facilitating and evaluating a pilot SILP.

The paper explores the purpose and function of the SILP and then examines the process of facilitating a “live” event. A range of issues are explored including who should be involved, concerns around participation and working alongside criminal/police investigations and/or therapeutic intervention.

The findings are discussed and highlight the need for skilled, independent facilitators and robust “ground rules”. The paper evaluates the process and makes recommendations for further use of SILP.

This paper explores a new approach to reviewing cases previously reviewed using SCR, as such it will be of interest to all agencies and organisations represented on SAB. The evaluation of the SILP found it to be favourable in comparison with SCRs in terms of cost, being a process that can be completed within three months of an incident occurring and in terms of timely dissemination of lessons learned.

Protection issues are a high priority for Sense, a specialist UK organisation working with people with deafblindness and associated disabilities. This paper reports on the setting up of a protection committee within Sense to advise the organisation on policy, practice and training issues.

Learning disability nurses are in a prime position to help protect clients from abuse. But current training programmes are not preparing nurses adequately to fulfill this role. This article argues that a shift in organisational culture is required in order to ensure new knowledge is properly integrated with nurses' experience and training needs.