Practice reviews

Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP) will conduct a child practice review in the event of a child's death or serious injury, where abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor.

The review will look at the involvement of organisations and professionals with the child and their family. The purpose of the review is to:

Establish whether there are lessons to be learned from the case about the way in which local professionals and organisations work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children.
Identify clearly what those lessons are, how they will be acted upon, and what is expected to change as a result.
As a consequence, to improve inter-agency working and better safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

On completion of the review, an anonymised report of the findings will be published and made available to the public. The most recent serious case reviews commissioned by the board are available to download at the bottom of this page.

SSCP practice review sub group

The SSCP practice review sub group ensures that SSCP and the agencies that form that partnership have the policies/procedures and undertake the practices that reflect the requirements of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015 guidance in Chapter 4. More information about the sub-group can be found in the terms of reference document below.

SSCB case review and audit sub-group terms of reference (Adobe PDF format, 290 kb)

Referral to the practice review sub group

If you are aware of multi-agency working that has resulted in a seriously good outcome, or you are concerned about the way agencies have worked together with a particular case, you can make a referral to the practice review sub group using the relevant referral form from the toolkit below. The Salford review activities and timescales flowchart shows the process followed for each referral into the practice review sub-group

During the process of reviewing a case referred into the practice review sub group, agencies will be asked to provide a summary of their involvement with the case and a chronology of significant events. Templates of these documents are also available for download from the toolkit below.

Guidance on how to complete chronologies and ecograms has been developed for all agencies.

Completed and quality assured referral forms, agency summaries and chronologies should be sent to SSCP@salford.gov.uk

Practice Review Toolkit Document	Type	Purpose
1. Review Methodology Options	Guidance	Lists different methods for undertaking reviews, such as Appreciative Inquiry, Root Cause Analysis, Learning Event, Salford case discussion tool.
2. Thresholds and Definitions Quick Guide	Guidance	To assist decision making about most the most appropriate type of review to conduct.
3. Children and Families in Practice Reviews Guidance	Guidance	Guidance about involving children and families in reviews.
4. Practice Review Assurance Questions and Checklist	Guidance	Checklist for Chairs, lead reviewer and those involved in reviews including what makes a good review report.
5. Chair and Lead Reviewer Specification	Guidance	Provides standards and behaviours expected from a lead reviewer
6. Seriously good outcome review guidance and referral form	Guidance Template	Encourages professionals to put forward cases where there has been good practice and good outcomes for the child, and learning that can be applied.
7. Referral Form (including pre-referral guidance)	Template	Form to make a referral for practice review
8. Agency Summary Form	Template	Gather initial information from agencies involved in the case
9. Chronology template	Template
10. Request for information letter	Template
11. Case discussion tool	Form	Provides a format for structuring case review discussions.
12. Rapid Review Meeting Report	Template	Summarise discussion and findings from the rapid review.
13. Review Action Plan	Template	Action plan format for all practice reviews
14. Review Action Plan Verification	Template	Quality Assurance form to assist in ensuring all recommendations have been addressed and learning embedded into practice. This could be used on a case basis, or an agency basis.

Information for families

Please see the attached guidance on Serious Case Reviews

Lessons from case reviews

The SSCB wrote a paper 'Lessons from Case Reviews' and published a "Lessons Learnt from Case Reviews" E-Bulletin to highlight the recurring themes from local case reviews. They provide the key messages that practitioners and services need to consider in order to improve their safeguarding practice.

Single agency action plans are verified by the practice review sub group using the template below:

Action Plan Verification Template (Microsoft Word format, 100kb)

Case reviews

2020

Baby MD Serious Case Review Report (Adobe PDF format, 1.35 MB) Published 28th February 2020
Baby MD 7 minute briefing (Adobe PDF format, 660kb)

In addition to reviews conducted by the SSCP we would recommend agencies are familiar with lesson learned from other national and local reviews and consider how these are also embedded into practice.

National Case Review Repository

In November 2013 the NSPCC launched the national case review repository, in collaboration with the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs. The repository provides a single place for published case reviews to make it easier to access and share learning at a local, regional and national level.

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel: annual report 2018 to 2019

The first annual report from the CSPR Panel covers patterns in practice and key themes from 538 rapid reviews and highlights the learning so that the system can improve its response nationally and locally to the needs of children and their families.

Complexity and challenge: A triennial analysis of serious case reviews 2014-2017

The research report analyses 368 serious case reviews. Using the study, Research in Practice have also produced 6 online briefings for various professional sectors.

Safeguarding Adult Reviews

A Safeguarding Adult Review is held when an adult at risk dies, or experiences serious neglect or abuse, and there is concern that partner agencies could have worked more effectively to protect them. The SAR will review the circumstances to see whether any lessons can be learned and it is important that the learning is shared so that individuals can continue to improve practice. Further information on SARs and other reviews are available on the SSAB website.

Domestic Homicide Reviews

Under guidance issued by the Home Office, any incident of domestic violence or abuse which results in the death of the victim requires a DHR to be carried out by the local Community Safety Partnership.

The purpose of the multi-agency review is to ensure that agencies are responding appropriately to victims of domestic violence and to apply any lessons learned. Further information on Domestic Homicide Reviews are available on the Salford Community Safety Partnership website.

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