Child protection database live in 2015


Lis Evenstad writes in E-Health Insider:

Children identified as vulnerable by social services will be flagged to NHS staff if they attend an A&E, starting in 2015.

The Department of Health announced the £8.6m Child Protection-Information Sharing project to co-ordinate NHS and social services data in December last year.

The first wave of the roll-out will see five local authorities and 38 NHS sites in North East London, Wakefield, North West England and North Tyneside, using the child protection database in 2015.

The database means NHS staff will be able to access information about children who are at risk, regardless of where in the country the child usually lives.

Opting out of the project, run by NHS England, is not an option.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre, which has been commissioned to develop the system, told EHI that if a child has a child protection plan, is in care, or a pregnant woman’s unborn child with a pre-birth protection plan, this will automatically be flagged if they attend A&E.