08.06.16
Improving information sharing across multi-agency partnerships
Source: PSE Jun/Jul 16
Jovian Smalley, engagement manager at the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing, explains how a new piece of work aims to tackle the information sharing challenges that exist around vulnerable children and families.
Multi-agency working is central to providing co-ordinated support to vulnerable children and families. Effective information sharing is at the heart of this multi-agency approach, in order to provide a more holistic picture of the support needed.
Ensuring that the right information is available to the right people at the right time within just one agency isn’t always easy; so to scale this up for a multi-agency partnership can often be problematic and issues can quickly escalate. This is particularly the case when working with vulnerable children and families with multiple and complex needs, when the question of ‘who to share information with and when’ can be an ongoing struggle – and have serious repercussions for those involved.
A number of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) have cited the need to improve the way multi-agency working handles information sharing as a key enabler to secure improved safeguarding outcomes.
Taking up the challenge
In order to understand more about the key barriers that prevent successful information sharing, the Department for Education (DfE) worked in partnership with the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing (the Centre) to explore information sharing challenges that exist around vulnerable children and families.
The journey started with an in-depth analysis of 25 SCRs, which highlighted information sharing between agencies as a contributing factor to escalation of need and vulnerability. Analysis of these reviews enabled us to begin to understand the barriers to information sharing and draw out some common themes. Having established these themes, the next stage was to talk with professionals about information sharing barriers in multi-agency partnerships through a series of roadshows across the country.
Bringing a case to life
The sessions focused on a safeguarding scenario which could be worked through during each session, culminating in a SCR. To keep them on their toes, each delegate was put in the shoes of professionals from other departments or organisations giving them a different perspective on information sharing situations they see every day. This gave a better understanding of what information is needed to protect vulnerable children and families, and the difficulties professionals face in making decisions about the risk of sharing it. Most importantly, it allowed them to see how their decisions could affect the outcomes for the families or children at the heart of the case.
It also enabled us to capture the barriers to information sharing faced by frontline professionals and middle managers from an array of organisations. The roadshows were attended by over 150 delegates, including GPs, members from Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards, professionals from the voluntary and community sector, and health and social care professionals.
A local voice at a national level
The roadshows also provided the opportunity for professionals who attended to submit their comments, questions and recommendations on information sharing to the Centre to consider on a national level. Working closely with the DfE, the Centre is uniquely positioned to bring a local and national perspective on the information sharing barriers in the same policy area together. The key themes emerging from the comments, questions and recommendations included:
- Providing clarity and consistency of national messages about good practice in information sharing to protect vulnerable children and families to reduce ‘grey areas’
- Developing networks for peer support so practitioners and managers can learn how to overcome information sharing barriers from each other
- Increasing multi-agency information sharing capability
The roadshows gave a unique insight into the key barriers to information sharing across multi-agency working that professionals are experiencing on a daily basis. These have been captured and published in a suite of reports, which are available at:
www.informationsharing.org.uk/safeguarding
Next steps
The full report outlining recommendations for improving information sharing across multi-agency partnerships is currently being considered, and is due to be published in summer 2016. It will be published alongside the roadshow reports.
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