News

Child death inquiries that have criticised professionals have left many paediatricians wanting to play a minimal role in child abuse issues.

Dr Neela Shabde, paediatric consultant with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, told a child protection conference in London last week that many of her colleagues were "scared stiff" of being reported to the General Medical Council for breaking patient confidentiality by passing on information about cases to a third party. They were also unsure how to proceed with cases where they could make no diagnosis, she said.

Shabde believed the reluctance of many of her colleagues to intervene was "worrying and unacceptable". She said: "I despair when I hear my colleagues saying child protection is not to do with me, it is for experts."

She said that, nationally, child protection training for medical staff varied from non-existent to excellent, and called for it to be made mandatory for doctors of all grades.

Meanwhile, the director of nursing and lead director for clinical governance review at the Commission for Health Improvement has warned of confusion around child protection responsibilities in the NHS.

Liz Fradd told the Association of Directors of Social Services’ international conference in Belfast last week that an audit of NHS organisations carried out after the Victoria Climbié Report had exposed the lack of understanding about "who is responsible for what and where".

"There is complete confusion between strategic health authorities and primary care trusts over where responsibilities lie," Fradd said. She said strategic health authorities had lobbied ministers saying it had nothing to do with them.

Also speaking in Belfast, chief inspector of social services Denise Platt said that all councils had returned on time the audits of their children’s safety procedures carried out following the publication of the Victoria Climbié Report.

She said they showed most councils had "promising prospects for improving services"