What is a Rapid Review?
Working Together 2023 states that the Plymouth Safeguarding Children Partnership (PSCP) is responsible for undertaking a Rapid Review following any Serious Incident Notification (SIN) or acceptance of a referral from a partner agency.
A Rapid Review is when Partner agencies, supported by the PSCP Business Unit, work together over a fifteen-day period to collate what agencies know about that child/family, identify practice strengths and areas for improvement and bring it together into a succinct report.
By the end of the fifteen days, a decision is made whether to initiate a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review.
The purpose of a Rapid Review is to:
Gather facts about the case and incident, as far as they can be readily established.
Discuss whether any immediate action is needed to esure children or young people’s safety, and share any learning appropriately.
Consider the potential for identifying improvements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Decide what steps should be taken next, including whether to undertake a child safeguarding practice review.
A Rapid Review is not an attempt to apportion blame, single out individual practitioners or be critical of specific agencies. It is the opportunity for the Partnership to work with all practitioners involved to understand if there is potential learning to prevent similar serious incidents happening in the future.
Rapid Review Referral
Any organisation working with children should inform the PSCP Business Unit of any incident they think should be considered for a child safeguarding practice review. Anyone completing the referral form must first have agreed it with a senior safeguarding lead within their agency.
Once the referral form has been received, the statutory partners meet to decide whether the case meet the criteria to intitiate a Rapid Review.
Some serious incidents do not meet the criteria for a Rapid Review but may nevertheless raise issues of importance to the local area. In Plymouth, we have called these Learning from Experience Reviews. You can find out more information about these reviews in Plymouth HERE.
Rapid Review Process
Once the decision has been made to initiate a Rapid Review, each agency involved with the child/family is asked to complete the Initial Information and Scoping document and Chronology template. Managers are expected to complete the form with front line practitioners as they have the best knowledge and understanding of the child/family and their lived experiences. These documents and further information can be found below.
Initial Information & Scoping DocumentChronology TemplateRapid Review Guide for Partner Agencies
Once all information is gathered, a Rapid Review meeting is held with senior managers from all agencies involved to discuss the information and make recommendations for next steps, prior to the report being finalised.
Following this meeting, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) subgroup will make a decision on whether a Local CSPR should be commissioned. The Rapid Review report is then shared with strategic leaders for them to offer scrutiny before it is sent to National Panel.
Further information about Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews can be found HERE.
Learning
Unlike local and national CSPRs, Rapid Review reports are not published. We want to make sure that the learning from our Plymouth Rapid Reviews is shared as wide as possible, so please take a look at the Plymouth Rapid Review Learning briefings we have put together HERE.
Here you will find a summary of the Rapid Review reports and how the learning can be put into day to day practice. You’ll also find a ready to use power point slide presentations of the learning for you to use in your own organisations, as well as a word version to use as a handout.
We recognise that a serious incident can be a traumatic event for staff and how it can cause concern and anxiety. We ask agency leaders and managers to ensure that all staff have a safe reflective space, not only to help to complete forms and provide us with information, but also to provide staff with the opportunity to talk about their circumstances and receive the right support at the right time.