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Contents

1. Structure of the Emergency Duty Team (EDT)  
2. Operational Hours 
3. Handover from Daytime Staff to EDT 
4. Handover from EDT to Daytime Staff 
5. EDT Recording 
6. Access to Procedures and Advice Out of Hours  
7. Consultation with Head of Service
8. Seeking Legal Advice 
9. Security and Lone Working  
10. Looked After Children - Sick or Absent/Missing 
11. EDT Working Arrangements 
12. Preparing for the Beginning of the Shift

1. Structure of the Emergency Duty Team (EDT)

The Emergency Duty Team (EDT) offers an emergency response to referrals for social care (both children and adults) that are made between 5pm and 9am on normal working days, at weekends and Bank Holidays.  See Section 3, Handover from Daytime Staff to EDT.

The Emergency Duty Team provides one duty social worker, who is responsible for prioritising between the tasks involved in responding to referrals.

2. Operational Hours

Monday - Friday
17:00  -  09:00

Sat/Sun/Bank Holidays:
09:00  -  09:00 next day

The Manager and the Team Business Support Officer are available during the day for part time hours.  Please see Emergency Duty Team.

3. Handover from Daytime Staff to EDT

Normally, day-time staff will be responsible for completing work that has been referred before 5.00pm or the end of the working day.

However, in exceptional circumstances, the EDT can be asked to continue with work already started where there is a danger to life and limb or in relation to statutory work.

Alerts and warnings to EDT from Day Services should be e-mailed to the EDT worker on duty. This should be followed up with a phone call to the EDT worker to allow discussion and clarification of alert detail.

4. Handover from EDT to Daytime Staff

In order to ensure day time staff can follow through the tasks generated by EDT's intervention within an appropriate and safe time, the following procedures should be followed:

• EDT will notify the relevant team through Carefirst and Outlook all work commenced or concluded at night.  EDT will send information to relevant teams and workers;
• All social work teams have their own team mailbox in Outlook and Carefirst and are expected to check for messages regularly during the day. This is particularly important at the start of the day;
• Whoever receives the message is responsible for ensuring that the message is passed to either the allocated social worker or to the duty social worker;
• All EDT observations must be recorded on Carefirst.

5. EDT Recording

Emergency Duty Social Workers should record their intervention before 9am next working day on a message sent from Carefirst Outlook to daytime SSD and NHS and Housing staff. All Mental health cases, should be recorded on the relevant NHS system i.e. RIO, and all referrals should be sent to the relevant Mental health team during the day via Outlook.

6. Access to Procedures and Advice Out of Hours

As far as is practical within the constraints of working out of hours, emergency duty social workers are expected to follow departmental procedures, which are available on the Internet, and use the appropriate relevant forms and formats.

The Emergency Duty Team Manager will be available for advice. If the EDT Manager is unavailable an alternative manager will be on duty.

7. Consultation with Head of Service

There will always be a Head of Service from Children's Social Care and one from adult social care who is available on a rota system for advice and assistance in emergency situations. 

8. Seeking Legal Advice

Legal advice should not be sought where it is clear that there is the evidence to protect a child by the use of Police Protection or an Emergency Protection Order.  

The criteria for seeking legal advice should be that:  

1. There is nobody in Children's Social Care who can give appropriate advice to resolve the problem.  Advice has to come from a solicitor;
   
   AND
2. There is no way to resolve a problem safely if legal action is delayed until the next working day. 

This means that either the problem will be a new and very unusual one or it will be a long-standing one, where legal advice given through daytime staff does not appear appropriate to the situation that evolves out of hours.

The situation may have changed and it may be unclear what the reasons were for the advice given to daytime staff, so EDT  need to ensure that the action or inaction they plan will neither put the child/vulnerable person/ the public at risk nor damage the Council's legal case.

The prerequisites for the referral should be that the EDT Duty Social Worker has spoken to a social work manager to discuss the case and  the manager is satisfied that :

1. There is no alternative way to ensure that child(ren) or other vulnerable people are safe without taking legal action;
2. There is no straightforward legal action that can be taken to protect the child(ren) or other vulnerable people;
3. There is no way that the legal action (planned with the manager)  can be taken without asking the legal department for advice.

If it seems necessary to seek legal advice, the EDT Duty Social Worker will tell the legal advisor which manager has suggested that they need legal advice and why no other method was seen as both sufficient and appropriate to protect the child(ren) or other vulnerable people.

The EDT Duty Social Worker will be extra vigilant to try and avoid asking for legal advice between 10pm and 8am.

9. Security and Lone Working

A thorough check must be made on the social care records and with mental health services to identify whether there is a history of violence associated with the service user or premises. If there is, the EDT Duty Social Worker must take such precautions and ask for appropriate help to enable the visit to be undertaken safely. 

The EDSW must carry a mobile telephone at all times so they can summon help if needed.

10. Looked After Children - Sick or Absent/Missing

The following must be read in conjunction with the following:

Missing Children (Looked After) Procedure   

If it is reported to the EDT late at night that a Child placed in a Children's or Foster Home is sick, Absent or Missing, the parent(s) will only be notified immediately if the child is seriously ill or at risk, otherwise they will be notified the next day; assuming the child is still sick, Absent or Missing.

11. EDT Working Arrangements

1. All shifts following an office working day begin at 5pm pm  All shifts prior to an office working day finish at 9 am;
2. The EDSW will check for messages on Outlook at 5.00 pm or 9.00 am (both their own mailbox and the SSEDT mailbox);
3. The EDSW shall contact the Out of Hours Contact Centre as they come on duty to ensure that there is no misunderstanding as to who is on call.  If the Contact Centre have not received a call within half an hour of the start of the shift, they will page the EDSW to contact them.  If Call Centre does not get a response, they will contact the EDT manager, who will explore what has happened;
4. When the EDSW receives an email message, s/he will check appropriate information systems for details of a client before responding to the message.  If it is about a mental health service user, they should also check with mental health services where practicable.

12. Preparing for the Beginning of the Shift

The Out of Hours Call Centre will receive regular updates of the EDT rota with the names of the Emergency Duty Social Worker (EDSW) expected to be on duty each evening. However, this is subject to change. Therefore, the following procedure should be followed at the beginning of every shift:

Step	Action
1.	The Emergency Duty Social Worker (EDSW) should contact the Call Management Service to confirm that they are on duty
2.	If the EDSW fails to call by 5.30pm (weekdays) or 9.30am (weekends), the Call Centre should phone the EDSW on the rota asking them to confirm that they are on duty
3.	If the Call Centre fails to get a reply, the Call Management Service should call the EDT Manager on  07950432501

End