Free Nursing Dissertations - Changes To Policy Should Be Undertaken Collaboratively Between Gp’s, Nurses
Changes to policy should be undertaken collaboratively between GP’s, nurses and administrative staff that have contact with children.
The importance of health care systems in the protection of children has been made clear in recent years, and lead to legislative changes that are presently being implemented as part of the 2004 Children’s Bill. Victoria Climbie died in February 2000 as a result of severe and repeated physical abuse and neglect by her caregivers that amounted to 128 separate physical injuries being recorded at the time of her death. The appauling circumstances of her death trigged a public inquiry, led by Lord Laming (2003), who identified 12 opportunities by health, police and social services agencies to protect this eight year old girl from many months of brutal abuse and neglect. One source of criticism in the Climbie report was directed at the health care system, in particular Accident and Emergency departments, that had misdiagnosed her physical injuries of scratches and bruises as being the result of scabies in June 1999. Social services were not notified of any child abuse concerns by doctors at this time. In July 1999, Victoria Climbie was readmitted to hospital for treatment of burns, but due to poor communication between health professionals, social services and the police no full assessment of the child was ever made (Hall, 2003). The Lord Laming report recommended that agencies work more closely together, with better training and interagency cooperation to prevent child abuse. As Hall (2003) argues, Amid the justifiable horror at the death of Victoria Climbié and the focus on violent physical abuse, we must not neglect the opportunities for prevention. This too is the responsibility of all who work with children, but in the health service it particularly falls on primary care staff, including midwives, health visitors, school nurses, and on those working with mentally ill adults and drug misusers (p 294). Lord Lamings recommendations were reflected in the 2004 Children’s Bill that aims to set up a central electronic record for every child in the country that would contain sensitive information on professionals who were involved with them. It is believed that such a system would make it easier for appropriate professionals to make ‘informed judgements’ about the safety of children, based on information gathered from other agencies with an interest in the child. However, the new legislation is controversial because of concerns about civil rights, and the Government are currently in consultation with local education authorities with a view to piloting the electronic record system.
In the UK, four types of child abuse are currently recognised under the legislative framework. These can be classified as neglect, physical injury, emotional abuse and sexual abuse.
Dissertations - Free Nursing Dissertations
