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Hello my name is Hilary Garratt. NHS England is delighted to be leading the implementation
of the Child Protection Information Sharing programme. This programme is really important
for us to be able to protect our most vulnerable children.
The Child Protection Information Sharing System is going to work by flagging up a child who
presents in an unplanned care setting which will be, normally, accident and emergency,
it will flag up whether that child is on a child protection plan or is a looked after
child, and that will happen immediately and it will allow the person dealing with that
child to decide to notify the local authority of the appearance of that child within the
accident and emergency setting. And what that does is that it immediately allows the local
authority, the children’s social care department, to assess whether there is a reason to change
their view of how they are dealing with that child. So for example, if a child turns up
with an injury, and that child is already on a child protection plan under the heading
of physical abuse, for example, the fact that there’s something else that looks like a
non-accidental injury, will allow the local authority and social workers to reappraise
the situation and decide whether it’s important to take immediate action to protect that child.
Jenny is in the children’s emergency department waiting to see a paediatrician. She has grazes
on her face and looks sad. Jenny’s foster mum does the talking, explaining that Jenny
fell on the stairs, and burned her face on the carpet. The doctor is happy that the story
she is telling him is true. The doctor has no reason to think otherwise. The doctor treats
Jenny and discharges her, not knowing that it’s Jenny’s foster father that caused
the injuries. Unwittingly, the doctor has placed Jenny in great danger of harm. Without
any intervention, Jenny very likely faces more abuse at home. The Child Protection Information
Sharing System would have provided a crucial change to this story. It allows social care
teams to be alerted if a child receives medical care. Even if medical staff have no worries
about a child, the fact that they have been treated is flagged to the social care team.
The social care team will be alerted on a daily basis if any children they look after
are receiving treatment. So the social worker rings the doctor just to check what happened
to Jenny. The doctor explains what happened, but something he says alarms the social worker.
The social worker remembers that there are no carpets on the stairs where Jenny’s foster
family live, only wooden steps. So she decides to visit. As a result of the social worker’s
visit to the foster family, Jenny is in a new placement. The old foster family face
criminal charges, and Jenny is now safe with a new family.
There’s one quite disturbing statistic that between 10 and 13 percent of children who
have a serious case review, that means they’re at risk of serious harm, are actually children
who are already looked after in the care of foster carers. So this information being known
in the emergency situation might help detect that much quicker, and maybe prevent it, and
actually get these children moved into safer surroundings.