implementation of any recommendations can be monitored and reviewed; and contextual trends are identified e.g. prevalence of substance misuse. 9 THE STATUS OF A SIGNIFICANT CASE REVIEW RELATIVE TO OTHER LINKED INVESTIGATIONS 9.1 There may on occasion be reasons why a Serious Care Review cannot be immediately initiated or concluded, for example in circumstances where there is an ongoing criminal investigation or where there are links to a Fatal Accident Inquiry or Children’s Hearings proceedings. In all cases, criminal investigations will always take precedence. 9.2 To help establish what status a Serious Case Review (including the Initial Case Review) should have relative to other formal investigations, there should be ongoing dialogue with the police, Procurator Fiscal or others to determine how far the Serious Case Review process can proceed in certain cases. The Chair of the Strategy Group will be responsible for ensuring that the dialogue happens and for monitoring the progress of this. 9.3 The following issues should be given due consideration: how the separate processes are linked; avoidance of witness contamination; and avoidance of duplicate information being collected. 10 COMMISSIONING A SERIOUS CASE REVIEW 10.1 Only the Chair of the relevant Strategy Group has the authority to commission a Serious Care Review; referred to hereafter in this document as “the Review”. 10.2 The Review should normally be completed and a report on outcome presented to the Strategy Group that has commissioned the Review within six months. 10.3 Reviews will normally be undertaken by a Review Team (referred to hereafter as “the Team”) comprising individuals with qualifications, experience and knowledge which are pertinent to the case. Members of the Team would normally be drawn from the agencies that comprise the Safer Highland Partnership (see paragraph 15). 10.4 Wherever possible and appropriate, it would normally be good practice to involve the affected person’s family in the Review. After seeking advice from the professionals who are best acquainted with the person’s circumstances and those of
implementation of any recommendations can be monitored and reviewed; and contextual trends are identified e.g. prevalence of substance misuse. 9 THE STATUS OF A SIGNIFICANT CASE REVIEW RELATIVE TO OTHER LINKED INVESTIGATIONS 9.1 There may on occasion be reasons why a Serious Care Review cannot be immediately initiated or concluded, for example in circumstances where there is an ongoing criminal investigation or where there are links to a Fatal Accident Inquiry or Children’s Hearings proceedings. In all cases, criminal investigations will always take precedence. 9.2 To help establish what status a Serious Case Review (including the Initial Case Review) should have relative to other formal investigations, there should be ongoing dialogue with the police, Procurator Fiscal or others to determine how far the Serious Case Review process can proceed in certain cases. The Chair of the Strategy Group will be responsible for ensuring that the dialogue happens and for monitoring the progress of this. 9.3 The following issues should be given due consideration: how the separate processes are linked; avoidance of witness contamination; and avoidance of duplicate information being collected. 10 COMMISSIONING A SERIOUS CASE REVIEW 10.1 Only the Chair of the relevant Strategy Group has the authority to commission a Serious Care Review; referred to hereafter in this document as “the Review”. 10.2 The Review should normally be completed and a report on outcome presented to the Strategy Group that has commissioned the Review within six months. 10.3 Reviews will normally be undertaken by a Review Team (referred to hereafter as “the Team”) comprising individuals with qualifications, experience and knowledge which are pertinent to the case. Members of the Team would normally be drawn from the agencies that comprise the Safer Highland Partnership (see paragraph 15). 10.4 Wherever possible and appropriate, it would normally be good practice to involve the affected person’s family in the Review. After seeking advice from the professionals who are best acquainted with the person’s circumstances and those of
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