Scots hospital gets multi-agency team

A specialist child protection unit is planned for the new
children’s hospital in Aberdeen, which is to open in 2003.

The unit will approach child protection as a joint operation
between social services and the police, and be integrated into the
health care provided at the hospital.

Detective inspector Harry Thorburn, head of Aberdeen’s community
protection team, said: “Investigations into child abuse are like
the different arms of an octopus. We felt that this new hospital
would be the logical place to promote multi-agency working. It
would minimise the trauma for a child to have everything happen in
the one place.”

The proposal, which will now be the subject of negotiations with
Grampian Health Authority, is believed to have arisen from the case
of murdered child Carla Nicole Bone. The case is currently the
subject of an inquiry and communication problems between services
have been highlighted.