GUIDANCE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MINUTES OF SAFEGUARDING ADULTS MEETINGS

1.  Purpose:

1.1    The following advice has been prepared to help develop a consistent approach to minute taking and to provide guidance to staff who record minutes of Safeguarding Adult meetings, held under Devon’s Safeguarding Adults Multi-agency procedures.

1.2    The advice covers the following areas:

• The role of the Chair
• Preparation for meetings
• Invitations (this may or may not be part of your role)
• Standard presentation for minutes
• How minutes should be recorded and written up
• Drafting, distribution and storage

1.3    Minutes may be defined as a written record of the business transacted at a meeting and constitute the formal record of the meeting.  As such, they are an authoritative source of information to meeting participants and for anyone (with suitable consent), including service users, who may wish to review how a Safeguarding alert was responded to.

2.  Role of the Chair

2.1    To ensure that an accurate and comprehensive record of a meeting is made, the Chair of the meeting has a responsibility to assist the minute taker by:

2.2    Communicating with them prior to the meeting with regard to:

• The nature of the case
• Date, time and location of the meeting
• Who will be attending and at what times (e.g. the provider may attend the second half)
• Sending invitations and requesting reports
• Items to be included on the agenda

2.3    Setting the items to be included on the agenda.  There are three template agendas which can be used:

       Safeguarding Strategy Meeting (62KB - pdf help)

       Safeguarding Review Meeting (62KB - pdf help)

       Safeguarding Case Conference (62KB - pdf help)

2.4    Following the agenda items in sequence and inform the minute taker of any departures from the agreed agenda.

2.5    Making clear introductions and roles at the beginning of each meeting.

2.6    Providing specific guidance to the minute taker (where necessary) on what to record for a particular agenda item where lengthy discussion has occurred or a complex issue has been discussed.

2.7    Stopping the meeting should the minute taker need to clarify points.

2.8    Summarising specific points, decisions or courses of action agreed for each specific agenda item before moving on to the next item

2.9    At the end of the meeting, summarising all the actions agreed throughout the meeting, together with the timescales for action and the name of the person responsible for that action.

2.10  Offering debriefing and support to the minute taker if the content is of a potentially distressing/emotional nature.

2.11  Checking the minutes (once they are written) for accuracy and amend as necessary within timescales.   

The role of the minute taker:

3.  Before The Meeting:

Invitations:

3.1    The Chair should provide the minute taker with details of who to invite and what should be written in the invitations.

3.2    Invitations should be sent out in advance of the meeting within individually agreed timescales.  Invitations may be sent by email, however providers, service users and carers should always receive a formal letter.  When the meeting is set up by phone, a written invitation should always be sent as confirmation.  The following types of invitation templates may be used and amended as necessary depending on the specific case and this can be checked with the Chair.  Please click on the links below.

       Whole Home Case Invitation (7KB - pdf help)

       General Invitation (36KB - pdf help)

3.3    It may be necessary to hold the meeting in two parts (with the provider attending the second part).  This is particularly important where the Police are present – the information sharing protocol does not allow them to share confidential information outside the statutory services of the NHS, the Local Authority and the Care Quality Commission.

3.4    Where possible, send an agenda out with the invitations.

3.5    Book room and refreshments

3.6    Prepare self (read previous minutes, papers & speak to the Chair).  This will aid understanding of the case which will help with the minutes.

Monitoring Attendance:

3.7    The minute taker should monitor the apologies and confirmations and feed this back to the Chair regularly.  This 'Information Checklist' (4KB - pdf help) form can be used to assist with this.  The meeting may need to be cancelled if the Chair decides there is inadequate attendance or key agencies are unable to attend.   

Receipt of Reports:

3.8    The invitation should also include a request for any necessary reports/information and should always be requested from people invited but unable to attend.  Reports should arrive at least 5 working days prior to the meeting.  Reports should be saved electronically in the relevant case file and also in the paper file.

3.9    The receipt of reports should also be recorded by the minute taker and the Chair should be informed.  The ‘Information Checklist’ form can be used to assist with this.

Preparation before the meeting:

The minute taker should:

3.10    Check if they should bring the paper file to the meeting or whether the Chair is bringing.  

3.11    Ensure they have their own copy of the minutes of the last meeting to refer to.  It is often useful to photocopy several extra copies to take to the meeting in case any attendees need them.

3.12    Print off an attendance sheet to take to the meeting.

3.13    Make sure they have lots of paper and several pens!

3.14    Take copies of the invitations sent or the completed ‘Information Checklist’ form in case there are any queries at the meeting or if any attendees do not arrive.   

3.15    You should always be provided with a table, but just in case, take a clipboard to lean on.

4.  At The Meeting

Administration:

At the meeting, the minute taker should:

4.1    Ensure an attendance sheet (6KB - pdf help) is distributed, completed fully and collected at the end of the meeting

4.2    Ensure that copies of any reports or other relevant information presented at the meetings are retained by the minute taker and filed.

4.3    If appropriate, reports should be photocopied for each attendee and distributed at the beginning of the meeting and collected back at the end of the meeting.

4.4    The minute taker should sit next to the Chair.

4.5    During introductions, it is helpful if the minute taker draws a rough plan of who is sitting where in order to know and record who is speaking during the meeting.

What to record:

4.6    Templates for completion of Safeguarding minutes is available on the Devon County Council Safeguarding Adults web pages, within the managers guide.

        There are three templates:

       Safeguarding Adult Strategy Meeting (25KB - pdf help)

       Safeguarding Adult Review Meeting (27KB - pdf help)

       Safeguarding Case Conference (27KB - pdf help)

These should be used in all cases, but may need amendment to reflect the individual nature of the safeguarding meeting and the specific agenda.

Minutes should provide a reflection of the meeting as a whole and accurately record what was discussed, the  opinions of others and the outcomes.

4.7    Minutes should include:

• Attendance and Apologies
• Background & purpose of the meeting
• Items discussed as per the agreed agenda
• Decisions reached
• Reasons for the decisions being taken
• Action points, who is to complete them and within what timescales
• When people entered/left the meeting at times other than the beginning or end

How to record:

4.8    Full names (e.g. Jane Smith) should be used at all times except for service users (see below).  

4.9    Where service users are referred to, initials should be used and where available, any identifying information (e.g. Care First ID number or their date of birth) should be included. E.g. Mr T.P (CF61111)

4.10  Where people not present at the meeting are referred to by name they should be identified formally including name, their role and the organisation they represent e.g. Sarah Jones (Care manager, ACS).

4.11  The minute taker should stop the chair if there is any lack of clarity

4.12  Minutes should not (as far as possible) be a verbatim record of proceedings – discussions should be summarised. Minutes must be sufficient to reflect the substantive points of debate; and brief enough to be accessible and easily read.  They should enable a person who was not present at the meeting to fully understand how a decision was reached.

4.13  Minutes should be written in the past tense and the third person e.g. Jane Smith (CSCI Inspector) provided a summary of the recent Inspection of the care home…

4.14  Minutes should be written in plain, easily understood language. Jargon and abbreviations should be avoided or if used defined in brackets e.g. CPA (Care Programme Approach).   

4.15  Minutes should be accurate, grammatically correct and concise.

4.16  Minutes should be consistent in their form and content.  

4.17  Wherever possible, record points, not every individual contribution (e.g. “there was a discussion about X’s mental capacity and it was decided that an assessment was needed to clarify this”).  Where there is doubt about what to record, the Chair of the meeting should be consulted.

4.18  The minutes ideally should focus on points made for and against a proposal or idea and the reasons to support these points.

4.19  If agreed by the Chair, written reports can be attached as a copy to the minutes, thus saving the need for a further written précis of the report.

5.  AFTER THE MEETING:

Drafting

5.1    If actions from the meeting are urgent, action points can be drafted and forwarded to the Chair as soon as possible after the meeting and distributed within three working days to avoid delay.  This is the decision for the Chair and may not always be necessary.  Please see this action points template (4KB - pdf help).   

5.2    The full minutes should be drafted and forwarded to the Chair for approval as soon as possible after the meeting, but no later than 10 working days.

5.3    An email should be sent to the Chair to advise them that the minutes are ready for checking.

5.4    The Chair should read and amend the minutes and notify the minute taker when they are ready for distribution as promptly as possible, but no later then 13 working days (after the date of the meeting).

5.5    Minutes should be marked ‘draft’ until they have been approved by the Chair.

Distribution:

5.6    Minutes are confidential and should only be sent out to attendees present at the meeting and to those who sent their apologies.  If the meeting is in two parts (e.g. the provider attends for the second part of the meeting) then they should only receive the section relevant to them.

5.7    Minutes should always be sent out according to Devon County Council date protection policy.  Password protect all  minutes circulated by email and mark any posted minutes as confidential.  Sending minutes to attendees from external organisations (outside Devon County Council) should be by secure email or post, in line with your departmental policy.

5.8    Reports presented at the meeting should be sent out to attendees with the minutes (this should be checked with the Chair first).

5.9    Meeting participants should be advised that requests for amendments to the minutes should be forwarded directly to the Chair of the meeting for consideration within 7 working days of their circulation.  After this period approval of the minutes will be presumed.

Storage:

5.10  Minutes should be retained in accordance with DCC /Safeguarding record keeping policy.

5.11  Final versions of documents and reports considered at meetings should be retained with the minutes when it is necessary to have access to them in order to understand the minutes.  Where supplied as paper copy they should be scanned and saved to the appropriate electronic file.

5.12  Initial drafts of minutes should not normally be retained, however the minute takers original notes should be kept with the minutes, until they have been agreed to be a true and accurate record at the next meeting.