Inquiries following deaths and serious injury of adults at risk, have highlighted that in some cases several reports are required before action is taken by the local authority. This may, in part, be due to the influence of a range of factors.
Researchers have found the following may influence the way in which decisions are made when responding to reports. These are considered below, alongside questions that report-takers can ask of themselves to ensure that the initial checks remain person-centred:
- team caseload and /or report-taker feeling overworked and stressed
- To what extent is my response affected by the number of reports that need processing?
- Have I obtained enough information to make an informed decision about next steps?
- Have my personal commitments impacted on my response to this report?
- Did I give the reporter sufficient time to explain their concerns? Did I prompt them to elicit detail?
- Presumptions about an adult at risk
- Am I making presumptions about a person’s ability to protect themselves?
- Have I got views about an adult at risk that is affecting my response?
- Over-identification with carers
- Would I respond in the same way if the person who is also an adult at risk was not ‘difficult’?
- Am I over-empathising with the carer/s?
- The referral source
- Am I making a judgement about the severity of the report based on the status of the reporter?
- Would I respond differently if this report was from someone else?
- Am I dismissing this report as malicious because the reporter wants to remain anonymous?
- Past knowledge of agency or residential setting
- How is my past relationship with the reporter and their agency affecting my judgement?
- How are my experiences of this residential setting informing my judgement?
- Previous knowledge about the adult at risk
- Am I making assumptions and pre-judging this report based on what I know about this person?
- What observations and evidence is there currently to support/refute my pre-conceptions?
- Possible unconscious bias about particular groups e.g. higher socio-economic status, BAME
- What assumptions am I making?
- If I received this report from an adult at risk living in a deprived community would I respond in the same way?
- Am I responding to this situation in a particular way because the adult at risk is from a BAME community?
- Have my past experiences of working with particular families affected my judgement?
- Time of report - reports over a weekend are less likely to lead to action than those received during the week.
- If I was looking at this report during office hours would I respond to it differently?
- Am I responding to this report differently as it is 3pm on a Friday to the way I’d respond if it was 9 am on a Monday morning?
- Form of report - reports received by email (or another written form) are a less likely to be responded to than those received by phone calls or visits to the adult at risk
- Am I presuming this is not urgent?
- How would I respond to this information if the reporter contacted me by phone or had visited the adult thought to be at risk and gained the information resulting in the report?
- Limited resources
- Is my response informed by my knowledge of waiting lists and/or lack of resources etc?
Report-takers should reflect on the influences that have informed their response to a report. If they believe subjective influences have played a part this should be discussed with their supervisor.