Hammersmith & Fulham
Safeguarding Adults Board

Annual report for 2019-20

View the Hammersmith & Fulham Safeguarding Adults annual report for 2019-20.

Contents

Foreword

The Care Act 2014 states that every local authority must have a Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB). The SAB is a partnership of organisations working together to prevent abuse and neglect of adults in need of care and support.

If someone experiences such behaviour, they have a duty to respond in a way that supports their choices and aids their wellbeing. The act also requires each SAB to produce an annual report listing its activities, progress and achievements.

A key aspect of all safeguarding work is to listen to, and, whenever practical, take into account the wishes and experiences of those residents who have been victims of abuse and or neglect: ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’. Annual reports normally give written examples of such engagement, invariably through the perspective of the organisation, not the individual.

We wanted to be different by bringing the work of the board ‘to life’. This annual report is, I believe, unique. It allows a platform to hear from Lisa who slept rough on the streets of Hammersmith for 7 years. Donna describes her experiences of trying to find the best residential accommodation for her adult brother Andre who has a mental age of a toddler.

Both examples vividly demonstrate the application of ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’, and the filmed interviews with representatives from a range of organisations working in the borough, give first-hand testimonies of how everyone strives to put the needs of the individual first.

Like everyone else over the past 15 months, our work has been dominated by the impact of the pandemic on society. One of the consequences has been to delay the intended publication of this report.

Examples of the various responses to the pandemic are included in some of the interviews. As someone who is not a ‘professional’, I have been very humbled by the dedication and resilience shown by so many people working to make everyone safe, particularly when some of them have suffered personal loss as a result of Covid.

Thank you.

Yet despite all the pressures and demands caused by the pandemic, the board continues to devote time to other areas of abuse. Scams sadly are on the increase, and the pandemic brought into sharp focus the plight of the borough’s rough sleepers. Our work continues to provide the best solutions for those residents who need help due to self-neglect and hoarding, and sadly, domestic abuse is still a significant blight on many residents’ lives.

Thank you to everyone who agreed to participate in the report. I would like to record my thanks to our filmmakers Francesca Tesler, Teodosia Dobriyananova and Alexandra Peake who drew the animations for Lisa’s story.

I hope you enjoy watching and reading about our work.

Mike Howard
Chair of the Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding Adults Board

May 2021

Our priorities

When we thought about our priorities, we wanted to know from local people, “What is important to you?”

Their replies led us to create our adult safeguarding strategy. One key message was that any strategy is written in easy-to-understand language so it is displayed as a ‘house’, which is built upon the foundations of wellbeing and safety.

People said that they do not want to be seen as victims, and want to be in control of the decisions they make about their life, even when they have experienced abuse or neglect.

Residents want to know what to do when they themselves, or someone they know, is being neglected or abused, by someone else. Most importantly, they want to be listened to and involved in any decisions made by other people about them.

We said that we want to be leaders who listen and learn from what people are telling us. Our strategy underpins the work of the board: all its safeguarding adults’ activity is focused on being led by the individual, ensure that the resolution of their concerns meets their needs and improves their quality of life, wellbeing and safety.

Our adult safeguarding strategy

Making safeguarding personal

What you said to us: 

  • I am able to make choices about my own wellbeing

Creating a safe and healthy community

What you said to us: 

  • I am aware of what abuse looks like and feel listened to when it is reported
  • I am kept up to date and know what is happening
  • My choices are important
  • My recovery is important
  • You are willing to work with me

Leading, listening and learning

What we said:

  • We are open to new ideas
  • We are a partnership of listeners
  • We give people a voice
  • We hold each other to account
  • We want to learn from you

What does this mean in practice?

The board is committed to demonstrating the application of the strategy to our work. The past year has been dominated by the response to the pandemic.

Examples of how board members have worked tirelessly over the past year to ensure that residents are kept safe and well during these extraordinary times are mentioned in their interviews within the report.

However, we have also been conscious that other areas of safeguarding needed and continue to need, our attention and focus. So the board has devoted time to addressing the following areas of business.

Financial abuse

The board continues to raise awareness amongst local residents of the need to be alert to potential scams and other forms of financial abuse. Board members promote the work of the council’s Trading Standards team, increase awareness of national schemes and make available links to work of agencies such as the Metropolitan Police.

For more information, please watch the interview with Doug Love.

Homelessness and rough sleeping

The immediate response to the pandemic last spring included a government-funded initiative to provide accommodation for the borough’s rough sleepers. As part of the board’s response to this important area of safeguarding, it created a homelessness and rough sleepers’ working group, chaired by Julia Copeland.

This work continues and Julia’s interview gives more details about the response to helping rough sleepers find suitable accommodation.

The report includes an interview with a former rough sleeper, Lisa, which shows how she has had her life transformed once she had been given her own flat.

Co-ordination between multi-agency panels

The council hosts and supports several panels with members drawn from a number of agencies and organisations working across the borough. However, following feedback from its members, the SAB has been working with the chairs of these panels to ensure a wider understanding of their terms of reference and prevent duplication of response.

In short, the right case is heard by the right panel.

The board’s Developing Best Practice (DBP) sub-group has been working on this project and it is already having an effect as shown in the example below from the High Risk Panel.

Another area of work for the DBP has been working with the safeguarding hub within Adult Social Care (ASC) to influence the design and content of the safeguarding referral form.

Shazia Deen who is the Head of Safeguarding for ASC, also co-chairs the DBP.

As a result of feedback from many quarters, including the DBP, the form has been amended to be shorter, more concise and only ask for the most relevant information at the initial assessment stage and designed to reduce inappropriate referrals and most importantly, ensure a speedy response to address any concerns.

This is another example of Making Safeguarding Personal and you can hear more about Shazia’s work in her interview.

Hoarding and self-neglect - High Risk Panel

The High Risk Panel is committed to minimising the adverse effects of hoarding such as fire risks. The panel is co-chaired by the Borough Commander of the London Fire Brigade and a senior manager from the Adult Social Care department at Hammersmith & Fulham Council. It is attended by various SAB agencies who are members of the panel who are committed to raising awareness of fire safety.

The panel’s work is centred around finding solutions together to support individual residents who hoard or self-neglect where other attempts have not been successful.

One such case involved an unkempt disabled man with no food living alone in a dirty house without any amenities. He was suffering from schizophrenia and was a heavy drinker. He was discussed at panel meetings and his case was progressed by a housing officer in conjunction with the local psychiatric nurse.

Following their intervention, he was registered with a GP, had an appointment with a specialist at Charing Cross Hospital to help with his disability and one with a psychiatrist. He now receives the right level of housing benefit and recently had a Covid vaccination.

As part of the wider partnership work with the London Fire Brigade, the local authority has embarked on learning from fatal fires which has led to a detailed plan to raise fire safety awareness, which will include fire safety training for staff.

Domestic abuse

The SAB is aware of the impact of domestic abuse upon many residents and the lockdown increased this risk of harm both physical and psychological. This is a subject mentioned by Nicci Wotton, who works at St. Mary’s Hospital, in her interview.

The board recognises that much work has already taken place across the partnership but wants to consider how it can do more to tackle this area of abuse.

Future meetings in 2021 will have themed discussions and programmes of action to increase the understanding of domestic abuse, particularly when it occurs in non-intimate relationships or falls under the phrase of ‘elder abuse’.

Interviews

Felicity Charles and Laura Seamons

Felicity and Laura both work in our Community Safety Team.

In the interview, they talk about their work in leading the Community MARAC, a group composed of many different organisations working within Hammersmith and Fulham which responds to cases of anti-social behaviour. Frequently, both the victims of this behaviour and those carrying it out have ‘vulnerabilities’ sometimes due to substance misuse or underlying mental health issues.

As an example, they describe a case of someone living in sheltered housing who was forced by drug users to allow them to use their flat for dealing. The MARAC devised a joint action plan with the involvement of both the victim and the perpetrators. This engagement made a positive difference to their lives.

Their message to anyone facing anti-social behaviour is “we are here to support you”.

Transcript for Felicity Charles and Laura Seamons

[Title card] Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding Report 2020.

Felicity: I think one of the learnings that we've had as part of the Community MARAC and one of the unique aspects to the types of cases that we're dealing with, is the fact that these are cases which are often quite entrenched or involve individuals where there may be very complex needs or significant experiences of multiple disadvantage. And so there are not always immediate solutions to these cases.

[On screen text] Community MARAC - A multiagency group that responds to high risk cases of antisocial behaviour and hate crime.

Laura: The perpetrator might actually be a victim in themselves. So that might be because they have mental health concerns or because they're being coerced by another individual. This might mean that we have to resolve the problems affecting the perpetrator in order for the risk to the victim to be reduced.

[Title card] How significant is mental health in your work?

Felicity: Mental health is a really significant part of the Community MARAC and the cases that we hear. 51 per cent of victims have mental health concerns and 64 per cent of perpetrators. We know antisocial behaviour and mental health may be linked, that we know that the risk of the antisocial behaviour may be increasing because of a person's deteriorating mental health. That's why it's really important that mental health is a key partner in the Community MARAC.

[On screen text] Figures from 51 total cases of victims total, and 52 cases of perpetrators, where mental health condition was known 2019 to 2020.

Laura: To try and support those involved, we work with the West London Mental Health Trust who are on the panel, and they are a really essential member in trying to ensure that people are offered the support that they need. They can try and work with the individuals, working with their GP's to try and ensure that they do access the mental health service and realise that they do actually need additional support.

[Title card] What are your goals for the next year?

Felicity: One aspect that we would really like to build on as part of the Community MARAC process, is how to enhance the victim's voice in the process.

Laura: We also want to work with mental health organisations and disability organisations because we've seen that so many cases that are referred to us, do have mental health concerns. One example that we have had of this, is a referral that we were given from a sheltered housing officer concerning an elderly gentleman that had shown a decline in his memory.

He was being coerced by two known rough sleepers in the borough. He was allowing them access into the home and giving them money because he believed that they were his carers and that they were supporting him. They were found to be doing Class A drugs and were sleeping in communal areas, which was obviously having a large impact on other residents living within the sheltered housing block. And we want to make sure that those victims or perpetrators are fully supported and that they can get the help that they might need in those areas.

[Title card] What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Felicity: I think one of the most important and rewarding aspects of what we do is knowing that we genuinely make a difference to the lives of the people that we support through the Community MARAC process, and that might be ensuring that they're in appropriate accommodation. It might be through a reduction in the antisocial behaviour, improvement in their wellbeing or linking people in with support that they have desperately needed and not been able to get.

Laura: The Community MARAC has heard 49 cases this year. And we found that in 89 per cent of cases the referrer thought that the Community MARAC was helpful in eliminating the antisocial behaviour which is positive to hear.

[On screen text] Figures from a total of 83 cases heard in 2019 to 2020.

[Title card] How has Covid-19 affected your work this year?

Laura: A lot of the antisocial behaviour cases are identified by frontline workers, so it affects the speed in which we can have an impact on eliminating the antisocial behaviour. We also had to move the Community MARAC online. This had a number of challenges in initially setting it up. Ensuring that we were still covering safe practices and making sure that everyone had access to the meeting.

However, although this had challenges to start with, we've actually seen that we've seen an increase in number of attendance because it's so much easier to attend to the meeting. So even when things go back to normal, I think we'll maintain some of the virtual aspects of the Community MARAC.

[Title card] What's your message for the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Felicity: The most important thing to say to residents is that we are here to support you and to help you if you are experiencing antisocial behaviour. This isn't something that you should have to experience or live with and our Community MARAC and our community safety teams and the partners that we work with, are here to support you and provide you and your families with the support that might be needed.

[Title card] To get in touch with the Community MARAC, please call on 020 8753 2693 or email at communitymarac@lbhf.gov.uk

Nicci Wotton and Sonia Benitez

Nicci is the Head of Safeguarding for the Imperial Healthcare Trust which provides acute and specialist healthcare in West London for around a million and a half people every year. Sonia is the Head of Services for the Carers Network and responsible for all of the carer services as well as the quality-of-service delivery.

Sonia tells of the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives - 7 million of the population of the UK were classified as ‘carers’ in 2019. The pandemic created an additional 4.5 million carers. In response, the Carers Network provided a range of services to carers such as online assessments, training and counselling and a dedicated telephone line for the 'digitally excluded'. Her work is about empowering and supporting carers and creating strong partnerships within communities.

Nicci describes the impact of Covid on patients and the emotional stress of her colleagues. Despite all the pressures, the trust has maintained a 7 day a week safeguarding service which continues to provide support to the 'lonely and isolated'.

Sadly, this isolation has led to increased incidences of domestic abuse. Her focus is to increase awareness of domestic abuse on the elderly. Her focus, which is a key theme of the work of the board, is ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ and describes how her team has helped adults to leave abusive relationships.

Transcript for Sonia Benitez and Nicci Wotton

[Title card] Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding Report 2020.

[Title card] How do you work with the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Sonia: Carers network delivers core carers health services in Hammersmith and Fulham that include in-depth one-on-one carers assessments, [an] information, advice and guidance service including a dedicated phone line. Forums, support groups, drop-in sessions, training, information events and social activities. And we also have now a counseling project in partnership with goldsmith university.

Nicci: As a consultant nurse for safeguarding, I have a safeguarding team that deal with any sort of safeguarding issues that come into the hospital. So be it under safeguarding children, safeguarding maternity and also safeguarding adults. We also have a really close link in our learning disability team.

[Title card] What challenges did you face in the last year?

Sonia: The Covid pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we support carers and individuals in general, as it all had to be done remotely. We managed to adapt both of our service provisions so it could be done online or over the phone. But this has highlighted some critical issues such as digital exclusion amongst those who are not IT literate or just simply lack the resources to purchase technology.

Nicci: We had lots of domestic abuse cases that are happening behind closed doors and sadly quite a lot of people sort of only got help when it really became a really serious incident. I think that we had a lot of staff who were also dealing with obviously Covid and having to self-isolate. You definitely saw a lot of quite high intensity sort of cases, quite sort of emotional cases as well coming in.

[Title card] What is your proudest achievement?

Sonia: We have managed to engage individuals that have never had a chance to engage with activities before, because of the commitments such as work or studies, or simply because leaving their cared for loved one for a couple of hours was simply just not an option. So during lockdown we've also made over 400 welfare calls to carers with no email addresses or no resources to communicate online. These calls were hugely appreciated by all and we worked very closely with the Hammersmith & Fulham Community Action Network volunteers, to ensure that basic needs at the time, such as organising shopping deliveries or prescriptions, were addressed as this was an issue at the beginning of the pandemic.

Nicci: What was really helpful actually was going virtual a lot more. So before we'd have a lot more difficulty in sort of being able to talk to GPs about cases. And sort of sometimes it's very difficult to coordinate social workers being able to get to the hospital for meetings. And I would say that I'm also really proud that we did keep our 7 day service. We all sort of really just helped each other deal with any sort of calls coming in.

[Title card] What areas of your work are most important?

Sonia: According to figures by Carer's UK which is a national carers organisation, pre-Covid there were around 7 million carers in the UK. That is 1 in 10 people. Now it is estimated that another 4.5 million adults may have become carers overnight. And one of the challenges that the pandemic has represented, is identifying these carers so they can access support in a preventative manner instead of just delivering crisis interventions.

Nicci: I think that there are a lot of people out there who are lonely, who are isolated. And I just think that in probably the first wave people were much more sort of community focused about making sure that people were being spoken to, that they had enough food. And I think even though there are still groups out there, then I think that what we need to do is that, that needs to be continued. And actually people in the future even when there's no Covid, that they continue to support their elderly neighbours or people that have got additional support and care needs. I think with domestic abuse that's still really hidden. The community really needs to think about if they're hearing screams and shouts on a regular basis, then they pick up the phone and they tell the police because that might be the only way that person who's suffering domestic abuse, male or female, can actually get some support. There's a lot of people out there who need the support but the services just don't know about it. As soon as they do they can start helping them.

[Title card] What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Sonia: The most rewarding parts of my job are definitely empowering and supporting adults and carers to increase their confidence by addressing some of the most predominant impact that the caring role can have in their lives.

Nicci: When you're seeing adults who are coming out of abusive relationships and managing to get away, that's really rewarding. I think when you sort of seen somebody who has lived sort of a life for quite a while in a particular way, but actually, then changes can be made and they're much happier, that's really nice.

[Title card] What are your goals for the next year?

Sonia: Some of our primary focus is going to be in carer identification and provision of wellbeing services. We're going to try to do that by forming strong meaningful partnerships with our colleagues in the community and other grassroots organisations, so they can be our eyes and ears in identifying potential carers that might come their way so they know where to signpost them and where to refer them for support.

Nicci: We want to really keep the focus on making safeguarding personal. Because I think it's really improved the referrals that we've had so far. We did a lot of work about raising awareness with domestic abuse in our elderly patients and that will continue.

[Title card] What's your message for the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Sonia: If you have a friend or a neighbour that is struggling with their mental health, with their everyday needs, just please encourage them to still get in touch with one of us. Both statutory organisations, local authority, voluntary organisations. We're still here for you, please do get in touch.

Voiceover: To get in touch please go to www.imperial.nhs.uk. For Carer's Network please go to www.carers-network.org.uk

Shazia Deen, Julia Copeland and Doug Love

Shazia, Julia and Doug all work for Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

As the Head of Safeguarding for Adult Social Care, Shazia talks about how her colleagues have involved residents in the safeguarding processes designed to improve their wellbeing. This is the key message of safeguarding, making sure that all interventions meet the desired needs of the individual. This is commonly known as ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’.

Shazia also talks about the response to the Covid pandemic - rearranging how services can still be delivered safely, keeping in touch with residents who were required to ‘shield’ and helping people recover from the trauma of Covid.

Julia is a strategic commissioner within the Economy department and discusses the work over the past year to support homeless persons and rough sleepers. Her goal is to provide access to safe, affordable housing and to support independent living.

She tells of her admiration for her everyone working with this most vulnerable group of people by showing compassion and dedication to their work, despite the impact of Covid upon themselves and their families.

The difference that this involvement and engagement makes to those sleeping rough is shown in the film about Lisa which forms part of this year’s annual report.

Doug is a senior trading standards officer who is responsible for enforcing consumer protection regulations. Many people, of all ages, are victims of financial abuse through scams and Doug talks about his work on tackling ‘rogue’ builders and how people who are victims do not report the crime until ‘the damage is done’ If necessary, Doug and his colleagues will make contact with Adult Social Care about a case.

He ends by saying “If suspicious, contact Trading Standards.”

Transcript for Shazia Deen, Julia Copeland and Doug Love

[Title card] Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding report 2020.

[Title card] How do you work with the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Shazia: it's important to make sure that residents are at the center of safeguarding enquiries and we do this by ensuring that they're involved from the start of the process. The key principle really is to support and empower residents to make their own choices and have control about how they want to live their lives.

Julia: It's still shocking to me the average age of death of a homeless man is 47 years and for a woman, it's 43 years. That's almost half the ages of the general population. Many homeless people have faced multiple disadvantages and traumas in their lives, and Hammersmith and Fulham wants to support people to address the impact that homelessness has caused in their lives. And I feel very very privileged to be a part of that response.

Doug: Our core work is to enforce consumer protection regulations, so we will often investigate complaints that are made to us by members of the public. The main overlap we have with vulnerable adults is in the areas of doorstep builders and scams in general.

[Title card] What is your department's biggest contribution to the safeguarding programme?

Julia: I suppose I begin with the proposition that access to safe affordable housing is absolutely paramount to people leading healthy and rewarding lives. And so in that sense, the department I work with which is responsible for helping people at the sharpest end of homelessness when they're rough sleeping.

And also right the way through to helping people access a safe affordable home and then supporting them to live independently in that home. I suppose for that reason I would say that our department stands out from others.

[Title card] What challenges did you face in the last year?

Shazia: There was a lot of anxiety and challenges around Covid such as PPE and the continuation of essential care and support services including face-to-face assessments. One of our big pieces of work was to rearrange our services to create a conversation matters team that carried ou,t and continues to carry out, safe and wellbeing check calls to over 4,000 residents who are shielding or experiencing loneliness and isolation.

Doug: The problem for us is, as it always has been, is that we tend not to hear about this type of crime until the damage has been done. The perpetrators are very skilled in what they do. It makes investigation very difficult because they tend to leave no trail that can help us to identify them.

[Title card] What is your proudest achievement?

Shazia: I feel really proud of increasing safeguarding awareness in Hammersmith and Fulham, which was reflected in the significant increase in the number of safeguarding concerns we received this year. This went from 440 concerns a year before, to 1,240 concerns this year and still over 90 per cent of our residents achieved the outcomes that they wanted to.

Julia: I've been humbled by the determination and compassion of the staff working in the home services that I'm responsible for over the last year. To keep people safe and to adapt and think creatively about new ways of supporting people in challenging situations during the pandemic.

They've done this at a time when they themselves, their families and their colleagues have been you know have been impacted by the virus. New ways of working have sprung up and partnerships that will benefit homeless people and the services that we deliver in Hammersmith and Fulham.

[Title card] What is the hardest aspect of your job?

Shazia: One of the hardest aspects of the job I think is cementing the idea that safeguarding is everybody's business. From council contractors who go into residents' homes, to cleaning and catering staff. Everyone should have an understanding of safeguarding principles and their responsibility to raise concerns.

For that reason, our safeguarding board has established a number of ongoing opportunities to raise awareness and provide information and advice. And of course the Covid pandemic has produced numerous challenges for everyone but especially for those working in health and social care.

[Title card] What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Shazia: The most rewarding aspect of my job is knowing that we're making a difference to people's lives and doing our best to keep adults with care and support needs safe.

Julia: The most rewarding aspect of my job is hearing about personal journeys of success. That could be a person deciding to go to detox or rehabilitation for drug or alcohol abuse. A person moving into their own accommodation for the first time, or someone leaving an abusive relationship.

Doug: Sometimes we'll come across a resident who's not in touch with adult social care and who probably needs to be. I had an example this year where an elderly lady revealed to me when she was complaining about someone who knocked at her door and done some building work that she was struggling to cope.

So I referred that matter on and I know ASC contacted her and they've now established a sort of daily contact. So that leaves you feeling useful and makes you feel that you've achieved something.

[Title card] What areas of your work are most important?

Doug: There might be a scam that attempts to get your details, your banking details, or personal information that can be used to relieve you of your savings and so on. There might be a sort of one-off payment scam where someone convinces you that they need to have an admin fee or something, it's normally called an admin fee, before they can process something that will help you.

[Title card] What are your goals for the next year?

Shazia: Main objective for next year will be to recover from Covid and ensure that our residents are supported to get back to as normal a life as possible.

[Title card] What's your message for the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Doug: If you are suspicious of anything that you see, whether it's people dropping leaflets through doors, or scouting out homes of people who might look a bit vulnerable, or knocking on your door or neighbour's door offering building services, we would like to know about it. So please contact us through the details on the website.

Voiceover: For contact details please go to www.lbhf.gov.uk. To find out more about the street link programme, please go to streetlink.org.uk

Lisa’s story

Lisa was homeless for 7 years. She talks of her experiences, sleeping rough in the subways of Hammersmith Broadway station and suffering from severe depression which led her to seek medical help. Her condition was not deemed to be serious enough for treatment and was told that it was a ‘homeless issue’.

Her link was turned around when she was found by Street Link based in Shepherd’s Bush under the ‘No Second Night Out initiative’. Working with the council, Lisa had her needs assessed and she was given support to get off the streets.

This support was provided through St. Mungo’s and led to Lisa getting a studio flat of her own. St Mungo’s has been providing services to homeless people in H&F for many years and is commissioned by the council to provide a range of services such as supported housing, homeless health inclusion services and outreach services to rough sleepers. Their staff work compassionately and with great skill in their determination to make a difference to some of the borough’s most vulnerable homeless residents.

Lisa’s final words are a lesson to us all “if you see someone sleeping rough and can help them, then help. Just don’t be horrible. Anyone can be homeless”.

Transcript for Lisa's story

[Title card] In 2019 over 170 people were homeless in Hammersmith and Fulham. One of them was Lisa.

I found myself sleeping rough from 2012 when I lost my flat. So for about 7 years sleeping a lot of the time outside on my own.

Sometimes it was really really cold. There was occasions where I didn't even have blankets, bedding.

I'd mostly sleep in the subway at Hammersmith Broadway.

Wasn't a dark place, but it was still dangerous.

I tried to go and get in No Second Night Out myself, but then I realised that I'd had to be referred on to them. I couldn't just go and knock on the door and say can I come in it wasn't like that.

I had severe depression and I was erm...I spoke to a doctor and my doctor said to me, if I ever feel that low to go to the hospital.

They put me in a room with cameras in it which they didn't even tell me there was cameras.

Watched me, and obviously I wasn't acting mad enough for them to be admitted as a mental health patient.

They just threw me out and told me it was a homelessness issue.

When you've got mental health issues to begin with and then you're homeless on top of that, and maybe you feel like, the people that are trying to help you are being intrusive.

One day, Street Link found me and they put me forward for a place called No Second Night Out, which is an assessment center in Shepherds Bush.

They assessed my situation and that was the start of me being in temporary accommodation until 14 months ago when I got my own studio flat.

Obviously I'm much better that I'm sleeping under a roof. I'm not out under the stars.

I'm safe, I've been able to buy things for my flat that I wouldn't have been able to get. And I've got a key worker I know is there for me. 

As much as I've needed support from Anna, I've always had it. And if she hasn't been  able to come and see me or speak to me, there's always been another person that I could get in touch with.

I just say if you see someone sleeping rough, and you can physically help them, help them.

If they need something to eat, yes it's nice for you to buy something to eat for them of course if you can manage.

But sometimes people need money too.

Physically need money because they need to get somewhere or do something. And girls especially, we might need personal effects or other things. But if you can help, help.

Obviously if you can't, you can't. I just say just don't be horrible because it could be you, anyone could be homeless. I never thought it'd be me and bang there I was homeless.

Anyone.

No one is exempt from homelessness.

That's important to know.

[Title card] If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough, please visit www.streetlink.org.uk or download the app.

[Title card] Special thanks to Lisa Terry J, Anna Watchman, Sabina White, Mike Howard and St Mungos. Animation by Alexandra Peake. Produced by Francesca Tesla and Teodosia Dobriyanova.

Donna and Andre’s story

Donna and Andre are sister and brother. Andre was born prematurely and sustained a brain injury at birth giving him a mental age of a 1-year-old child. Donna tells about how her mother set up a care home within the borough to look after Andre which she described as 'home from home'. This smaller home was taken over following her mother's death, which, following staff changes, began to give inferior care to residents. Last year, things got so bad that Andre was removed from the home by the council.

Donna describes the experiences of working with the council to find the right home for Andre as 'positive'. She felt listened to and that everyone wanted the best outcome for Andre. Andre is now very happy in his new home and this is an excellent example of the making safeguarding personal approach of the board.

Transcript for Donna and Andre's story

Donna is waiting on the platform as the train approaches.

[Tube train pulling into platform]

[Title card] Donna is a NHS nurse living in Kent. Today she's visiting her brother Andre at his new care home.

Donna is walking to the care home.

[footsteps]

[Title card] In June 2019, the H&F Safeguarding team intervened to remove Andre from the care home he was living in due to neglect.

Donna: Andy, what have I got here?

Facing Andre who is sitting in a chair with a stuffed animal, Donna slowly pulls out a helimum balloon from a carrier bag

Donna: Is that better than your toy? Is it better than your toy?

[Andy reaches out to grab the string tied to the balloon]

Donna: Let me come around that side. 

[Donna moves from Andre's right side to his left]

Donna: Right, you don't know what to do now, do you? You can have the balloon.

Andre is my older brother, he was my mother's first child and he was born about five weeks premature. 

Apparently had a brain hemorrhage 24 hours after birth, but the the brain injury from the bleed has meant that he is perhaps got the mental age of somewhere between nine and 18 months.

As my mother was getting older, her biggest fear was 'what would happen if something happened to her?' especially as she had to divorce my father.If something happened to her, the only option in society at that time was what was known as state mental institutes and they really were dreadful places, they were like prisons, and Andre would have died very quickly being in a place like that.

Archive footage in black and white is shown of a mental institute. We see rows and rows and beds, a patient being helped by staff and then patients sleeping at night.

Donna: Then she set up the Peter Pan Trust to open up the first home in Hammersmith and Fulham for people with severe learning disabilities. And after many years of hard work and dedication, the first home for 6 people with severe learning disabilities was opened in Hammersmith and Fulham, and Andre lived there successfully in a virtually a home from home until my mother died.

Archive footage is shown of a teenage Andre and his mother at the opening of the care home.

Also my first husband was sick [and] I was very worried about the future of a small trust surviving. And so I made what I thought at the time was a prudent decision to approach another local organisation, a charity, that offered similar services but on a larger scale, and asked them if they would take on Angela House.

But by the time our existing manager left in 2016, the staff were already complaining of funding problems and trying to keep the house as nice as it had always been kept.

Cut away shot of a bathroom sink with limescale and water dripping from the tap. Light blub flashing on and off. Cigarette butts in an ashtray as smoke drifts off from on recently put out.

CQC visits were deeming the home as 'needing to improve' and every report was 'needing to improve', 'needing to improve'. But they were not meeting the expectations of CQC and ultimately in June of last year, being put into special measures.

Social services at that point in June rang me on a Friday evening, I was in the middle of getting dinner, to inform me that Andre was being removed from the home. It was just like a sledgehammer, it was just like the biggest shock.

If you can imagine the amount of thoughts going through my head. Andre is homeless. The home that my mother set up, that was once beautiful, is being shut down by CQC. And what the hell has been going on? I was just absolutely horrified. And you know, it's been a process since then to go through.

[Andre is playing with the balloon and lets go of the string]

Donna: Whoops, where's it gone? Can you get it down now?

[Andre grabs the sting and pulls the balloon back down]

Donna: [The] safeguarding process that I have been through with Hammersmith and Fulham in the last 6 months has been a really positive experience.

That is because everybody that was involved was willing to listen. But they also could see from their own point of view, what they would want. As the Assistant Director of Social Services said to me when we were trying to find the home, 'I want them to have a home that I would want to live in myself'. And that is in essence what I think they have achieved.

We are shown a photo of Andre as an adult.

Donna: You know, people need shelter and they need their health and they need food and warmth. But life is so much more than that, it's so much more enriching. We need social contact, we need love, we need activities. The environment that you live in, that's your home, it's where you feel safe and secure.

Donna is gazing lovingly at Andre while he plays with his stuffed toy. A care worker helps Andre to take sips from his drink. Donna and another care worker move Andre in his wheelchair.

Donna: I really like coming here myself and could come and stay if I wish now, but also the other part of it was the people that were going to come in and care for Andre 24/7. Andre is starting now to have an active life again with lots of activities in the week. And staff that are really lovely and really care about what they do.

Photos of Donna and Andre from some of his birthdays. The last is of Andre smiling.

Donna: For me, social services and many people locally and involved with people in residential care, have to go in and check that the service they expect to be provided is being provided.

And I think for all of these organizations, whether they are trustees on boards of charities, whether they are social services, whether they are just casual visitors or other therapists going in, what I always think they should ask themselves when they visit these homes is 'Would they want to live there themselves?' and if the answer is no, ask yourself 'Why?' 

Because you know what you expect from your own standard of living and the life you lead. And that's what you should expect for the people that you are providing a service for you.

[Title card] This video was created for LBHF's annual safeguarding visual report

The numbers

This report contains:

  • statistics showing the numbers and types of people living in Hammersmith & Fulham
  • information about how adults at risk of harm are protected from abuse or neglect through the use of section 42 safeguarding enquiries
  • information about our person-centered approach
  • statistics explaining the use of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)
  • safeguarding adults review report

These figures explain the different aspects of safeguarding work.

The case of Donna and Andre shows how these activities do make a real difference to the wellbeing of one of the borough's residents.