Child Death

Child deaths are tragic, and thankfully uncommon, and it is important that we take the opportunity to learn from these devastating events.

Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP)

Comprehensive reviews of child deaths are undertaken by the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) and serve as an invaluable public health function. They investigate what happened and why, and identify common trends or themes to help inform and improve the quality of health and social care. This in turn links to multi-agency child safeguarding and promotes child welfare, ultimately with the aim of preventing future child deaths.

The Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS) CDOP has a statutory duty to report every child death to the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) immediately after death.

The Child Death Review (CDR) is the process followed when responding to, investigating, and reviewing the death of any child under the age of 18, as defined in the Children Act 2004 . A CDR must be carried out for all children regardless of the cause of death, including the death of any live-born baby where a death certificate has been issued.

The process is designed to capture the expertise and thoughts of all individuals who have interacted with the case in order to share information and identify opportunities to save the lives of children, as set out in the Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance 2018 and in accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children.

Membership

The HIPS Local Authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups are the CDR Partners and the CDOP has representation from:

Designed Doctor for Child Deaths/Consultant Paediatrician
Public Health
Police
Consultant Neonatologist
Consultant Obstetrician
Designated Nurse for Safeguarding
Midwifery
Children’s Social Care
Children’s Education
Lay Member

The Panel members are all senior professionals who bring significant expertise from a wide range of perspectives and settings for objective, comprehensive and meaningful reviews.

In addition to the core membership, relevant experts from health and other agencies are invited as necessary to inform discussions, for example, the Regional Medical Examiner, Bereavement Services, Health Visiting, Mental Health Services, School Nursing and Coroner’s Office.

Child Death Notification and Reporting

All child deaths are to be notified to the HIPS CDOP team via the online nationally approved system eCDOP. This will automatically update the National Child Mortality Database.

Reporting forms for each child death will be requested via eCDOP and this will be managed by the HIPS CDOP Team.

Examples of the information that is to be shared via the secure online system can be seen in the following documents:

Child Death Notification Form Child Death Reporting Form Child Death Analysis Form

Joint Agency Response

Consideration of a Joint Agency Response (JAR) should occur each time a child dies and a joint decision should be taken as to whether it is required. The new guidance no longer distinguishes deaths in terms of unexpected or expected. A Joint Agency Response should be triggered if a child’s death:

is or could be due to external causes;
is sudden and there is no immediately apparent cause (including SUDI/C);
occurs in custody, or where the child was detained under the Mental Health Act;
where the initial circumstances raise any suspicions that the death may not have been natural; or
in the case of a stillbirth where no healthcare professional was in attendance.

Suicide Prevention and Postvention Protocol

The Suicide Prevention and Postvention Protocol helps schools and colleges on the Isle of Wight to identify and support students who may be suicidal or, support students following the death by (suspected) suicide.
It also supports schools and colleges to prepare and respond to, a (suspected) suicide.

Child Death

Child deaths are tragic, and thankfully uncommon, and it is important that we take the opportunity to learn from these devastating events.

Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP)

Membership

Child Death Notification and Reporting

Joint Agency Response

Suicide Prevention and Postvention Protocol

HIPS Procedures

Bereavement Support

Local Resource Library

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