Recorded number of concerns for safeguarding in Hertfordshire

More than 9,000 ‘safeguarding concerns’ were raised about the care of elderly or vulnerable adults in Herts in the past 12 months.
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These are reports that relate to any suspicion of neglect or abuse of an adult. They can be lodged by a service user, a family member, or health professional.

Data – shared with the county council’s adult care and health cabinet panel – shows officers are expecting to have registered 9,609 concerns during 2018-19.

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And that would be the highest number of safeguarding concerns ever registered in a 12-month period in Herts.

Councillors were told the increase reflected improvements in recording and training, which now meant a greater number of concerns were counted.

Cllr Richard Roberts, executive member for adult care and health, said many of the concerns highlight areas where care was not as good as it could have been.

The council’s target for the number of safeguarding concerns is zero. And Cllr Roberts accepted he would like the number to be lower than it is.

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Although the 12-month period has ended, actual data has only been collected for the first nine months of the 2018/19 year.

And the final figure of 9,609 is a 12-month projection based on the actual figures from the previous months.

The latest actual figures show that in October to December last year there were 2,499 concerns raised.

If proven to be accurate the 9,609 figure would be the equivalent of 1,056 per 100,000 population.

And it would be an increase in excess of 10 per cent on the previous year’s figure of  8,685.