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This paper aims to set out to share the reflections of safeguarding adult board managers as they worked through what is likely to be just the first wave of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper draws on the experience of small number of safeguarding adult board managers who have provided reflections from practice.

This paper illustrates just some of the responses developed by safeguarding adult board managers and their boards to continue to deliver the work of safeguarding those at risk of abuse and harm in the face of unprecedented impact of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on a key aspect of the safeguarding adult system in England.

The reflections reported here are not intended to offer a representative commentary on the experiences of those who oversee and manage safeguarding adults’ boards. It is intention to provide a flavour of some of the challenges and dilemmas faced and some of the creative solutions to address them used by one group of adult safeguarding practitioners.

The author will describe the operational tasks of S.44’s statutory mandate: for example, commissioning the review; being responsive to the representatives of the relevant agencies concerned; securing pharmacological/medical advice; adding Ben’s death to the review; engaging with relatives; and ensuring that “lessons” were foregrounded. How the review was set up/recognising the standout features from the beginning/managing the situation when an agency is withholding information/“drip feeds” information into the review; navigating/steering the Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) alongside other processes – police/inquest/Care Quality Commission.

This practice paper describes the experiences of coordinating a complex SAR into the deaths of three adults at Cawston Park Hospital in Norfolk.

The system insights that SARs give us prompt exploration of how to inject this learning into current discourse on how we better protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process and requirements of conducting a complex SAR from the perspective of a safeguarding adults board manager. It will be of interest to anyone who is involved in SARs, in particular safeguarding adult board chairs, board managers, members of SABs and SAR authors as management of SAR is one of the three statutory duties of a SAB.

The author, who is Chair of Norfolk’s Safeguarding Adults’ Board (SAB) reflects on the impact of a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) and the actions that resulted. The purpose of the paper is to provide an insight into a significant SAR and the resulting actions desinged to change practice.

The actions illuminate the power of hospitals and politicians over people’s lives. It took the deaths of three young adults with learning disabilities, in a hospital, to move beyond the status quo and organise some very different service responses.

“Progress summits” have considered local and national actions. There have been important gains and setbacks, including the delayed reform of the Mental Health Act. Despite uncertainties, SAB can be detonators to listening and taking action.

This is a unique insight into the impact of a Safeguarding Adults Review and the actions that resulted from this.

Three deaths at Cawston Park Hospital shed a bright light on Norfolk’s services for people with learning disabilities and autism, including those operated by the company that ran the hospital. The purpose of this paper is to review Norfolk County Council's current position from the unique aspect of a senior manager wihtin the system.

This paper reviews the unique perspective of a social worker from within the system.

The process of making change included engagement and action concerning such thorny challenges as the pressures on community services; the undervaluing of care-giving as a career; and the continuing admissions to specialist mental health services at a time when hospital discharges are being expedited.

Norfolk’s investment in improving its services involves the adoption of a human rights approach; a capital programme to facilitate new developments; nurturing care-giving as a career; and bringing a clearer evidence base to this work programme.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current state of antimicrobial stewardship implementation and development within Canada at both a federal and provincial level.

Narrative review.

There have been several prominent conferences and reports in Canada regarding the development and implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs over the past two decades. However, despite the knowledge that there is a need for standardization of programs across Canada with accurate mechanisms and infrastructure in place for implementation and evaluation of these programs, there is still a lack of consistency across the country. In addition pharmacy information regarding inpatient and outpatient antimicrobial use is not uniformly reliable. Recently, the Public Health Agency of Canada using the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network as a vehicle organized a task group to help facilitate the working relationships among the provincial, territorial and federal governments in terms of implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs. This network has the potential to enhance and standardize programs across the country.

This paper looks at Canadian policy regarding antimicrobial stewardship at a federal as well as provincial level. Historic conferences, reports and discussions are highlighted emphasizing the progressive changes over the past two decades and highlight many of the challenges that Canada continues to face.

The SARS epidemic in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic had a disruptive impact on countries around the world and highlight the importance of using scientific evidence to inform policy decisions and priorities during crises. The purpose of this article is to reflect upon the term “following the science” and examines the differences between SARS in 2003 and COVID-19.

This study is exploratory, adopts a qualitative approach and reflects on the synthesis of scientific evidence into advice informing government decisions on health interventions. Random sampling of the literature was used to avoid bias and was guided by the keywords.

It considers preparedness activities and the need for these to be integral in the design of future planning. It argues that simulation exercises be intrinsically linked to all aspects of crisis management and provide the opportunity to use the scientific evidence base as part of preparedness planning. The article concludes that more transparency in the use of scientific advice in strategic decision-making would support building more resilience into health emergency preparedness through an integrated systems approach.

This article contributes to the literature on the evaluation of the “following the science” approach and its implementation. It also contributes to the limited literature on simulation exercising to deal with health crises, like pandemics and identifies potential areas for further research or work on developing an integrated systems approach to pandemic preparedness.