AssessForCare's Experts & Partners

Experts

Deborah Stuart-Angus BSc (Hons), CQSW PGCE MIfL DipAppSS CIPS(Assoc) CEO AssessForCare

Rebbeca Page LLB (Hons), PDL, LPC, Senior Legal Advisor for AssessForCare

As a Local Authority Adult Services & Human Resources Solicitor, and a Director of AssessForCare, Rebbeca specialises and advises on community care law; safeguarding adults; mental health and capacity; duty to assess; asylum; ordinary residence, continuing health care; charging; direct payments; self directed support and individual budgets. She has made many representations in court proceedings, including Judicial Review and Declaratory Relief. She has also advised on commissioning for personalisation; legal powers of intervention in adult protection; Court of Protection intervention and procedures; use of common law; best interests and necessity. In relation to mental health law, Rebbeca has advised on application; interpretation; powers to intervene and to treat and the role of nearest relative, having made representations in the displacement and appointment of the same. In relation to HR, she has advised on pay; rights; contracts; disciplinaries; dismissal; redundancy; discrimination, compromise agreements; mutual terminations and made local authority representations at employment tribunals. Rebbeca has provided a vast variety of very successful training on all of the above to many local authorities and partnership staff.

Dr. Trevor Adams Ph.D, MSc, SRN, RMN, CPN  Cert. Cert Ed. Strategic Lead for Dementia Care, University of Surrey

Dr. Trevor Adams is the Strategic Lead for Dementia Care, University of Surrey and Leader of the BSc and MSc Dementia Care Pathway. He has worked within dementia care for over 25 years, initially in hospital and community settings. Since 1986 Trevor has worked in Higher Education developing teaching, research and practice within dementia care. He is qualified in Dementia Care Mapping (Advanced). He has written over 50 papers and chapters in academic journals and books and has co-edited four books on dementia care. He is an Associate Editor of ‘Dementia: the international journal of social research and practice’ and an External Examiner at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Trevor holds honorary Fellowships with the University of Brighton and Christ Church University, Canterbury. Trevor has spoken at over 50 conferences in the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and Australia and presently holds a SCEPTrE Teaching Fellowship with the University of Surrey. He is an Associated Consultant with Dementia Care Matters Ltd.  

Jane Ashman, ADASS lead on the Reform of Adult Soical Care Law

Born and brought up in London, Jane started work as a social worker in Central Liverpool at the end of the 70’s. Having worked in several parts of the North West practicing generic social work, child care and mental health, Jane moved to the South West joining Avon County Council in 1992. Following Local Government re-organisation Jane became an Assistant Director for the new Bristol Social Services and in 2000 Jane became Director of Social Services and Housing in the Unitary Authority of Bath & North East Somerset where she remained for 9 years, going freelance in May 09. Jane has a first degree in Education, a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work and an MSc in "Management development with Social Responsibility". She chaired the South West Branch of the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS), its successor body ADASS for several years and was an Assistant Honorary Secretary to the national body for 4 years. Jane has been active in national policy development for the last 5 years and is the lead for ADASS on the reform of Adult Social Care Law.

Professor Suzy Braye, Professor of Social Work and Social Care, Sussex University

Suzy Braye has written widely on social work and the law, adult services provision and professional values, and as a qualified social worker has worked in mental health and adult care, staff development and children’s services management. Her recent and current research includes:
• The relationship between law and social work decision-making
• E-learning and the pedagogy of professional education
• Policy implementation and professional practice
• Governance and self-neglect in adult safeguarding
• The participation of experts by experience in social work policy, practice, education and research
She has held a number of advisory roles in academic publishing, and is Editor of the European Journal of Social Work.

John Curry, Director of JCC Associates & Chair of the Northern Region Safeguarding Adults Board

John had a 35 year career across the Humberside Police and was seconded to the Regional Crimed Squad.His principle role was as a Detective, undertaking and supervising major criminal investigations and managing specialised crime investigation teams.  As Detective Inspector in 1996, he was appointed Head of Child Abuse Investigations in a multi-agency context. He later became the Force Lead for Multi-Agency Development of Child Protection and the Domestic Violence Strategy. 
In June 2001 he was appointed as Adult Protection Co-ordinator for Hull & the East Riding of Yorkshire and led on the multi-agency strategic implementation of ‘No Secrets’ on behalf of the Adult Protection Committee. Since April 2007 to date he has managed the Safeguarding Adults Board.
For the last three years he has had regional and national responsibilities as Chair of the Northern Region Safeguarding Adults Network; is a member of the National ADASS Safeguarding Adults Reference Group, and was a member of the Department of Health POVA/Vetting and Barring Schemes Implementation Advisory Group. John has had various Speaking engagements and was previously invited by Action on Elder Abuse to be a key note speaker on ‘Adult Protection in the Future’.

Gary Fitzgerald, Cheif Executive of Action on Elder Abuse

Gary has been with Action on Elder Abuse since 2001 and was
appointed Chief Executive on 2 April 2002. Prior to that, he worked for over 20 years within local government social care provision focusing on all aspects of care of older people. Gary has been responsible for and/or involved in the management of domiciliary care services, meals on wheels services, day centres, residential homes, occupational therapy services and a range of peripheral similar services. He has an Irish background and a special interest in equality and social inclusion issues, particularly in relation to aspects of abuse. He has spoken in the UK and Ireland on elder abuse, regularly contributes to radio and television programmes on the subject and sits on the management committees of the Practitioner Alliance Against the Abuse of Vulnerable Adults.

Martin Grant, Safeguarding Aldults Lead - Haringey NHS Trust

Martin trained as a mental health nurse in Aberdeen, before working in forensic psychiatry. Having started as a staff nurse in Ashworth high secure hospital, he spent subsequent years working in a medium secure hospital. He then led a pilot project in liaison psychiatry in Birkenhead, to reduce suicides, whilst training in psychotherapy. Later he graduated with a law degree in 2006, LLB (Hons), before specialising in medical law. He then achieved a Research Masters in Law (LLM), based on legislative change in mental health for mentally disordered offenders. Much of his focus has been on Human Rights Law, and he now leads on safeguarding adults for NHS Haringey.

Martin Green, FIPSM: FIAM Chief Executive: The English Community Care Association

Martin Green is Chief Executive of the English Community Care Association, the leading representative body for Community Care in England. Martin has had an extensive career in NGO development, both in the UK and internationally and he is a Trustee of the International Longevity Centre and the National Aids Trust. In 2006 he became a Member of The Secretary of State for Health’s Stakeholder Board and a Member of The Ministerial Strategy Group on Social Care and has very recently been appointed to the Board of the new National Institute for Social Care Research and the Board of the new Skills Academy for Social Care. Prior to his appointment at ECCA he was Chief Executive of five British charities, Coordinator of the Coalition for Quality in Care and a Trustee of Age Concern England. In 2005 he was awarded a Fellowship of the Institute of Public Sector Management and in 2006 a Fellowship of the Institute of Association Management. Martin writes extensively on care issues and is on the Editorial Board of Community Care Market News. In 2008 he was appointed as a Trustee of the National Aids Trust and a Trustee of The International Longevity Centre and he is a UK representative to The European Care Homes Organisation (ECHO) In 2009 Martin Green became the Care Personality of the Year.

Nancy Hamilton BSc, RGN. Compliance Officer, Salvation Army Care Homes Scotland

Nancy Hamilton is a Compliance and Monitoring Officer in the Social Services Compliance and Monitoring Unit of the Salvation Army, based in London, working from home in Glasgow. She inspects Salvation Army social centres in Scotland, Ireland, and North East England. She trained as a Registered General Nurse and has a BSc in Health Studies. Nancy has had wide experience in Health and Social care in the NHS, Public, Independent and Voluntary sectors, and was Director of Nursing for 13 years in the Independent sector. With many years experience in dementia care, she has had various journal articles published about the care of residents with dementia and depression; grief and loss; compliance or conformance in residential management and benchmarks of quality services. She is Vice President of the Social Care Association, next year's President, and previous Chair of the Scottish Committee. She has also been involved in various Scottish Executive Social Care committees and is currently a member of the Care Commission’s External Quality and Consistency Forum.

Julie Sanderson, BA (Hons) CQSW, Adult Safeguarding Development Manager for Nottingham City Council

Julie has over 20 years experience in the Adult Social Care sector.  As a qualified social worker and up until recently, Approved Social Worker, Julie has practiced in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire in the fields of Forensic, Mental Health and Vulnerable Adults and Older Persons services. With extensive experience both as a practitioner and manager in Adult Protection and Safeguarding Investigations, Julie was appointed as Adult Safeguarding Development Manager for Nottingham City Adult Social Care and Health Adult Service 2 years ago, and has been responsible for the creation of Nottingham City Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board which is striving to develop a strong multi-agency approach to Adult Safeguarding arrangements in Nottingham city.

Rowena Smith, Chair of the Community District Nursing Association

Rowena has had a long and interesting career in Nursing. Having trained at The Hammersmith Hospital as an Enrolled Nurse, she then moved to the Royal Surrey group of hospitals and completed her SRN. After a short time working at Ashford hospital in Intensive Care, Rowena was attracted to Community Nursing, owing to the variety of skills required. After 25 years she became District Nurse Manager. During this time Rowena realised the need to develop work in the prevention of adult abuse, and later became Lead Nurse for Safeguarding Adults. Having recently retired from full time employment, Rowena can now concentrate on her role as Chair of the Community District Nursing Association, and their continuing work on adult protection and domestic violence. However as someone once said; 'you can never retire from the NHS', so Rowena continues to provide training on safeguarding adults. In relation to CDNA and their national profile, they have campaigned for many years to reduce adult abuse and increase professional awareness. In her role as Chair of CDNA, Rowena stated:

'We have always been supporters of AssessForCare since they started and wish to continue to work with them to improve professional education.

Tim Spencer-Lane, Lawyer, Public Law Team, The Law Commission

Tim is a lawyer in the public law team at the Law Commission. He previously worked as the policy adviser to the Law Society on mental health and disability law and was also the chair of the Mental Health Alliance Policy Group. He has written widely on mental health and community care law and is co-author of ‘Essential Mental Health Law’. Tim is also Academic Chairman for the Open University on Social Work Law.

Simon Stevens, Independent Disability Consultant and Trainer

A leading independent disability consultant, trainer, and social change agent, with vast experience and expertise in a wide range of fields including disability equality, independent living, health policy, social care, lifestyle advocacy and Secondlife.  Simon has worked with many organisations over 20 years, both nationally and internationally including: NHS Coventry; Scope; Warwick University; Channel 4; Council of Europe and eBay. He has also written for Community Care magazine. Simon has cerebral palsy which affects his speech, balance, hand control and sense of humour (in a positive way). In 2009, he had Gullian Barre Syndrome which increased his personal experience of impairment. Despite his difficulties and the level of everyday discrimination he faces, Simon has had a vast range of life opportunities which has assisted him to help others by his willingness and openness to discuss his experiences.

Norman Sterling-Baxter, BSc (Hons), MSc, Training & Development Officer, Leeds Adult Protection Unit

Norman has been the Training and Development Officer for the Leeds Safeguarding Adults Partnership for over 5 years. His remit is the development and implementation of the multi-agency training strategy for the Partnership. His work involves the specification, commissioning, design and delivery of training to a range of professional groups, including clinical health staff, social care staff, advocacy workers, GPs and Practice Managers, Clinical Psychology trainees and the Police. He is an Associate Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University where he delivers part of the Post-Qualification Social Work course in Safeguarding Adults, addressing policy, legal framework, procedural and practice issues.

Simon Williams, Director of Community & Housing - Merton Borough Council

Simon trained as a social worker in Oxford after his first degree, and then worked for 9 years in child care, moving on to social services management in Berkshire and Hampshire. In the late 90s he was Commissioning Director for a health authority. When Simon moved to the London Borough of Merton as Head of Community Care, he led social services from having been placed on 'special measures,' to achieving 2 stars. He then spent a further 2 years in the NHS as Director of Policy for a strategic health authority, a time which included development of a wide scale change programme. From 2006 he has been back with Merton as Director of Community and Housing, a brief which includes adult social care, housing, libraries and adult education.
Simon has kept an interest in a non- executive role, including being a school governor and trustee for a national charity for people with sight impairment. Simon lives in Horsham, tries to keep up with 4 girls aged 21 to 12, has a partner who works for the NHS, and gets some exercise with his poorly trained black Labrador.

Edward Vera-Cruz BA (Hons), LL.B (Hons), LL.M, Dip. L.G Solicitor & Independent Trainer

As an independent trainer and experienced solicitor, Edward started his legal career as a criminal defence lawyer, moved into insolvency litigation and then became managing partner of a firm specialising in projects, oil & gas, ICT, and international commercial transactions. In 2004 he moved into the public sector, where he leads a Projects, Procurement & Contracts legal team at one of the larger County Council’s in the southeast of England. Edward advises on a wide range of public procurement and contract arrangements – including: preparing, vetting, drafting and negotiating legal documents pertaining to commercial, quasi-commercial, outsourcing, constructions industry, and various public to public and public to private arrangements. This covers, the whole spectrum from standard form contracts to bespoke  multi-million pound project agreements. Edward also advises on general local government law and practice.

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