Background
Scotland has a higher mortality rate for under 18s than any other Western European country, with over 300 children and young people dying every year. Around a quarter of those deaths could be prevented.
With no national system to support consistent reviewing and learning from deaths of all children and young people in Scotland, the Scottish Government commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate to set up a national hub to review and learn from the deaths of children and young people. NHS Lanarkshire’s child death review (CDR) team is working together on the initiative to:
- ensure that the death of every child in Scotland is subject to a quality review: develop methodology/documentation to ensure all deaths of children and young people that are not subject to any other review are reviewed through a high quality and consistent review process, and improve the quality and consistency of existing reviews;
- improve the experience and engagement with families and carers;
- channel learning from current review processes across Scotland that could direct action to help reduce preventable deaths.
Dr Donna Corrigan, NHS Lanarkshire paediatrician consultant who is the CDR lead for the project, said: ‘We are delighted to be involved in such a meaningful and worthwhile project. Deaths of young children under any circumstance is tremendously sad for all staff involved and especially difficult for the grieving families. By conducting death reviews, we strive to implement improvements within our systems from any valuable learning gained.”
Who is this for?
Midwives, nurses, medical staff, mental health professionals, child protection staff, local authority staff and general practitioners who have all been involved with the care of the now deceased babies, children and young people.
For more information, please visit the child death reviews page on FirstPort at http://firstport2/staff-support/quality-directorate/assurance/child-death-reviews/default.aspx.
For any queries, please email the CDR team at: NHSL.childdeathreviewservice@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
