‘Ground-breaking’ new way to review murder and abuse cases

In a UK first, Wales is to have a new process for reviews following a person’s death or abuse to help reduce family trauma, prevent similar cases and protect others in the future.

The Single Unified Safeguarding Review (SUSR) will incorporate all safeguarding reviews into one single process for everyone in Wales to follow.

Safeguarding reviews occur after a serious incident of abuse or neglect of a child or adult, who is at risk, which results in their harm or death.

Previously, this could have involved multiple reviews over a long period of time with the affected family and various professionals who would assess whether anything could have been done differently to stop the harm.

This would often be onerous and traumatic for individuals involved who would have to go over the serious incident many times.

The SUSR will:

·        end the need for families to take part in many reviews, reducing further trauma

·        help professionals learn from and act upon recommendations quicker

·        improve information sharing and help prevent future harm and tragedies from occurring

All completed SUSR reports will be stored in the Wales Safeguarding Repository – a central system helping professionals access and learn from past cases to reduce the recurrence of serious incidents.

The Minister for Children and Social Care, Dawn Bowden, said:

I am pleased to launch the ground-breaking Single Unified Safeguarding Review for Wales.

We are the first country in the UK to take this evolutionary approach to safeguarding reviews which will ensure that professionals can learn from past cases quickly and effectively to prevent future harm and reduce further trauma for victims and families.

The SUSR is trailblazing and being seen nationally and internationally as a beacon for others to follow - an example of how change can happen from working together for the common good.