Free Nursing Dissertations - Wtsc Recommends A Non-confrontational, Information Gathering Approach To
WTSC recommends a non-confrontational, information gathering approach to early investigations of child abuse by community nurses staff, with a strong emphasis on discussing concerns with the child’s GP, who may have detailed knowledge on the circumstances of the child and their family. Where there are concerns that the child maybe at at risk of significant harm, nursing and medical staff may contact the social services department to make an official referral. It is standard practice for the GP to make a child protection referral, but when there are conflicting opinion, either by medical, managerial or senior colleagues, if the nurse is still convinced that there is a child protection issues, she or he is individually accountable and should refer it to social services (p 51).
However, under the current legislative framework, social services personnel may wish to contact the referral agency for further information on the child’s health and to undertake network checks with all the agencies involved. The GP or nurse maybe invited to an inter-agency strategy meeting attended by social services staff, the police and other relevant staff to discuss their child protection concerns and decide upon a plan of action. Furthermore, the GP or nurse maybe invited to a child protection conference that may lead to the decision to record the child on the Child Protection Register. The Child Protection Register is available to appointed child protection staff within health organisations, to check if a child is known to social services for reasons of emotional, sexual and/ or physical abuse, or neglect (WTSC, 1999).General guidelines on child protection are provided as part of the policy document. It is stated in section 1.13 that For those children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm, joint working is essential, to safeguard the child/ ren and - where necessary to help bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against children (p 3). It recommends that health professionals should be vigilant to the possibility of child abuse amongst patients and be alert to the potential risk that abusers may pose to children, and share and help to analyse information as that an informed assessment can be made of the child’s needs and circumstances (p 3). The WTSC policy stated that it was important that every organisation that came into contact with children had a child protection policy in place, but gave little guidance on what the child protection policy should be.
