Domestic Homicide Reviews Understanding your role

Tally Ho Conference and Banqueting

CentreTuesday 17th April 2012

Domestic Homicide Reviews Understanding your role

Jan KimberHead of Community Safety &Chair of Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group

Domestic Homicide ReviewsUnderstanding Your Role

Jan KimberHead of Community Safety &Chair of Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group

Aims & Objectives

• understand the purpose of domestic homicide reviews

• understand your individual role and responsibilities within the review process

• understand how to undertake an Individual Management Review within your own organisation and what a good quality review looks like

Structure of the Day• Presentation: Individual Management Review • Workshops: DHR Panel Roles and Responsibilities & Producing

an Accurate Sequence of Events• 11.00 Coffee• Home Office Presentation• Workshops: Quality & SMART Recommendations and Action

Planning• 12.30 Lunch • Repeat of Workshops • Question Panel • 2.30 Finish

Scope of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs)

• homicide• over 16• resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by• a person to whom s/he was related or with whom s/he was,

or had been, in an intimate personal relationship or• a member of the same household as her/himself, held with a

view to identifying the lessons to be learnt…

Purpose of DHRs

• what lessons are to be learnt from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims ………in order to…

• prevent domestic homicide and improve service responses and inter-agency working for all domestic violence victims

and their children.

DHR Structure

Home OfficeDHR Quality Assurance Panel

Birmingham Community Safety PartnershipChair and Executive Board

Birmingham Domestic Homicide Steering Group

For each DHRIndependent Chair and DHR Panel

DHR Process• Notification• Information gathering• Commissioning independent chair/author and panel• Organisations review their practice• Family and significant others invited to contribute• Overview report• Home office ratifies• Publication• Implementing recommendations

Domestic Homicide Reviews in Birmingham

Understanding Your Role

Individual Management Reviews (IMRs)

Paula HardingVulnerability &Violence Against Women Strategic LeadBirmingham Community Safety Partnership

Aim of the IMR

• Allow agencies to look openly and critically at individual and organisational practice & context

• To identify need for change• To identify how these changes will be brought

about• To identify examples of good practice

Process• Responding to initial request for information• Securing records• Independent chair and panel decide to commission IMR or

information report• Organisation commissions IMR author• Attend IMR & information report author briefing• Template• Chronology, analysis of records, interviews with staff• Quality assurance at senior level• Submission within timeframe• Feedback and debriefing of staff• Implementation of Recommendations• Note - Taking action at earliest opportunity

Templates & Guidance

The Template

Page 1

Page 2 8. Terms of reference

9. Brief overview of agency involvement in the case

10. Contextual information

Cross box if impacted on case Comment

11. Details of Victim, Perpetrator, Family and Significant Others

Name D.O.B. Relationship to victim

Ethnic origin Address

12. Process undertaken in completing the reviewDetails of the documents seen. Details of the information not available and why?

13 . Details of Interviews held with key personnel (Dates )

14. Summary of Agency Intervention

Interviewing Staff

• Where criminal proceedings – SIO/CPS advice• Reassurance - not part of disciplinary

proceedings – a learning culture• Recommend

– Advance notice– Use chronology as structure– Provide summary

• Debriefing and providing feedback

Page 315. Analysis of involvement

16. Effective Practice and Lessons Learnt

17. Recommendations

Differences between SCR & DHR IMRs

• No genealogy• No anonymisation• Not shared with auditing body

Workshop 1Domestic Homicide Review Panel

Roles & Responsibilities

Gill Baker

Who should be on a DHR Panel ?

Organisations that have a statutory duty to participate:

PoliceLocal AuthoritiesStrategic Health AuthoritiesPrimary Care TrustsProbation ServicesLocal Health Boards (Wales)NHS Trusts

Who should be on a DHR Panel ?

Other agencies that may have a key role to play in the review process:

Crown Prosecution ServiceHousing AssociationsPrison ServiceDomestic Violence Forum

Independent Panel Chair/Overview Report Author

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Review and agree the Terms of Reference – an ongoing process as new information emerges

• Ensure the process is conducted in a timely manner – the overview report should be completed within 6 months of the date of the decision to proceed with a DHR

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Be aware of potential sensitivities and need for confidentiality

• Equality and diversity issues to be borne in mind at all times

• Engage with police senior investigating officers and family liaison officers

• Agree appropriate time and engagement with family members

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Quality assure IMR's and information reports – critical analyse and challenge the content, quality and accuracy

• Request amendments, clarification, further information if necessary

• Provide feedback to IMR authors and commissioners - utilise IMR self evaluation tool

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Ensure that the findings of parallel investigations are incorporated into the overview report

• Ensure that the overview report is of a high standard and adheres to DHR national guidance

• IMR's and the Overview report should adhere to the Birmingham DHR format and template

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Ensure that the overview report brings together the information and analysis from the IMR's and draws overall conclusions

• Ensure that contributing organisations and individuals are satisfied that their information is fully and fairly represented

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Agree the content of the Executive Summary and Overview Report and the recommendations contained therein

• The recommendations should translate into a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) action plan to improve practice and systems

Core Functions of the DHR Panel

• Ensure that the bereaved family receive feedback on the outcome of the review

‘Workshop 2 “Producing an Accurate Sequence

of Events”

Cheryl Harnett,CDOP Co-ordinator, BSCB

Overview of Producing a Chronology and Software Available

• What is a Chronology? • Why is a Chronology Important?• Step by Step Guide• Do’s• Don’ts

What is a Chronology?

• First key step in compiling the Individual Management Review• It maps out in date order the key events for a service or

agency in relation to the named individuals involved in the Domestic Homicide Review

• It helps to establish the detailed nature of the contact that the service or professional had with the parties involved

Why is it Important?• To provide an accurate sequence of events leading

up to the serious incident for DHR Panel• Helps to establish gaps in service provision and

conflicts in agency accounts• Helps to show the links between the different

services involved in the case• Key component of the integrated chronology that

form part of the overall DHR analysis.

Step by Step Guide

• Open Word Document Provided• Box will prompt to enable Macros – Click

enable Macros• Chronolator Licence Box will show – Click OK• You should now have an empty table with

only table headings • Add your text ensuring that you follow the

Do’s and Don’ts guide

• DO lay out dates in the format 21 September 2012 or 21/09/12.

• DO enter the time if your agency records this• DO ensure that you have used a ‘0’ and not a ‘o’ at the

beginning when completing the time.• DO click on Sort Table on the chronolator toolbar (sort

into ascending order).• DO click on Check Table after completing the

chronology. Errors will be highlighted in either yellow, for out of sequence or turquoise for boxes that must be filled

• DO complete all sections highlighted in turquoise, use “Not Applicable” if you have no information.

Do’s

Don’ts

• DON’T leave errors on the table.• DON’T add times if your agency does not

have or use them, leave this blank• DON’T put ‘st’ ‘nd’ ‘rd’ or ‘th’ on the end of

numbers in the dates section.• DON’T give date ranges.• ALWAYS complete the Mandatory Fields:

‘Date, Was The Victim Seen and Was The Victim Seen Alone sections’.

• Chronolator guidance will be sent with the request to complete an Individual Management Review and Chronology

• Guidance can also be found on the following website: www.chronolator.co.uk

‘Workshop 3 “Getting the Quality Right –

Evaluating IMR’s”

Simon Cross,Business Manager, BSCB

Adverse evaluation feedback

‘One IMR is judged good, ten are judged adequate and five are judged inadequate. The variable quality of these reports leads to our overall judgement of adequate for the review process as a whole. The overview report, recommendations, action plan and executive summary are all judged good.’

Source; Ofsted Evaluation Report

Home Office Quality Assurance Group• A group of experts from statutory and voluntary

agencies overseen by Home Office• Assessed against national guidance • Meet on a quarterly basis to assess report standards as

well as identifying good and poor practice and training needs

• Reviews assessed as inadequate, CSP Chair will be responsible for ensuring the areas of concern are amended

• The Home Office Quality Assurance Group will be responsible for assessing progress identified at a national level

Focus on Quality• Guidance, template & Audit tool intended to help IMR

Authors• Training and Mentoring available for IMR Authors• Importance of Management role in quality assure and sign

off • DHR Panel – Robust challenge and constructive feedback• Reports failing to meet required standard will require

amendment• Overview report comments on quality of IMR’s • DHR Steering Group aim to continuously improve DHR

process - Improvement Plan • Dissemination of exemplars of ‘good practice’

Now your turn - Group Exercise

• Read IMR• Individually use the Evaluation Tool• As a group use the ‘Moderation Matrix’ to try and reach a

consensus• Identify any key issues for inclusion in evaluation feedback

• Plenary Session - Review against specimen answer • Sharing exemplars of good IMR's

Workshop 4: SMART recommendations and

action planning

Joy AnibabaProject and Training Development

Coordinator

SMART RecommendationsRecommendations need to

be:-S - specificM - measurableA - achievableR - realisticT - timely

Avoid multiple recommendations

Types of RecommendationsResources• Requires production of somethingProfessional action• Requires someone to take action rather than

produce somethingProfessional knowledge and skills• Requires individuals to acquire or improve

professional knowledge and skills

Specific

Example of Non-Specific“Doctors should receive child

protection training.”

• Who will be responsible for implementation?

• Which Doctors?• What issue is the focus of

the training?

Measurable

Example - unable to measure“Hospital records for babies

and children must contain relevant information.”

• Define relevant information• Requires hindsight• Which specific records?

Realistic

Example of Unrealistic

“The Assistant Director Children’s Social Care should ensure that all referrals for family support receive a response within 2 hours.”

Specific - yes Measurable - yes X Not achievable, impractical

deadline

AchievableExample of Not Achievable“The Senior Nurse – Child Protection

should ensure that a protocol for sharing information between health visitors and GPs is developed and implemented.”

• Multiple• Requires action outside their

authority• No line management

responsibility for GPs or Health visitors

Timely

Example of Non-Specific“Child abuse investigators to

receive FGM awareness training by 30th April 2012.”

Specific -Yes Measurable -Yes Achievable -Yes• Realistic- questionable• Negotiated timescales for

implementation

Organisation:Individual Management Review in Respect of Case:

Date Commenced:The recommendations have been accepted and will be implemented by the agreed target date. We will

submit a progress report within 2 months to the CSP.

Recommendation(SMART)

Action Required by Agency

Implementation Lead Target date for completion

Summary of Action Taken & Date Received

Finalisation date and ‘Sign off’ by CSP