Information sharing guidance “too complicated”

Government guidance designed to clarify information sharing on
children and young people could leave practitioners feeling more
confused, a leading figure in children’s services has warned,
writes Amy Taylor.

Caroline Abrahams, director of public policy at children’s
charity NCH, said that the guidance was too long and some of the
terminology was overly complicated.

“If I was a practitioner and I was faced with a document
of such complexity about information sharing it would not make me
more confident,” she said.

The guidance, which was put out to consultation this week, also
proposes separate information sharing procedures for health
professionals and the rest of the children’s services
workforce.

It states that due to the highly sensitive nature of health
information a two tiered approach is advised for health
professionals.

This would mean that health practitioners who have a reasonable
suspicion that a child might be being harmed should contact other
professionals to get further information but they should not tell
them why they are concerned.

They should then combine this information with their own and if
they then decide that there are reasonable grounds for believing a
child is in danger they should then consider informing others of
the reason for their concerns.

The consultation closes in November.

Cross government guidance – sharing information on
children and young people from: www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations