Early evidence highlights problems for child death panels

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Child death overview panels are spending as little as five minutes reviewing each case as many struggle to cope with the workload, a study funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has found.

The panels were set up across England in April by local safeguarding children's boards to review cases of unexpected child deaths. Their remit includes looking at lessons to be learned, patterns of child death and promotional work to prevent such deaths.

However, a study into the "early starter" panels that were set up before April found that for many "it was not possible to review all deaths in great depth". Although government guidance on the work of the panels said all child deaths should be reviewed, panels found they had particular difficulty finding out about older adolescent deaths.

Duplication was also an issue. While the panel chairs interviewed said it was important to avoid duplication of other reviews, such as those of neo-natal deaths carried out by hospitals, none of the early starter panels "had clarified how they would achieve this".

The research found the time spent on case reviews ranged from five minutes to an hour. It concluded that brief reviews could be sufficient, but only if panel members are briefed in advance and discussions are based on summaries of information rather than on original case records.

Sue Dunstall, policy adviser at the children's charity NSPCC, said: "I would say in most cases 20 to 30 minutes on each case is appropriate, although some will take much longer."

The study recommended having firm protocols in place with other organisations, such as local authorities and hospitals, to ensure deaths are reported, review work is not duplicated and data protection issues are addressed.

The report also called on panels to collect and store information efficiently and securely. The DCSF has already taken steps to address some of these concerns, such as developing an online system for collecting child death information.

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