Many child deaths 'preventable'

More than 200 children die in England every year in preventable deaths, research suggests.

For the first time statistics have been collected nationally on child deaths that could have been avoided.

They suggest 5% of child deaths could be avoided, although statisticians say the first data set was incomplete.

Children's Minister Delyth Morgan says every child's death is a tragedy but new rules for authorities to review deaths will mean lessons are learned.

Preventable and avoidable factors are defined as "events, actions or omissions contributing to the death of a child or to substandard care of a child who died".

The kinds of deaths which might fall into this category could include those due to road traffic accidents, illness, abuse or murder.

Deaths have to be reviewed by bodies called Local Safeguarding Children Boards, which are responsible for developing policies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their areas.

The duty was brought in following the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie, who died of abuse and neglect in 2000.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collected data on the reviews carried out by the boards on deaths of children in 2007.

But not all the deaths from 2007 were included because some reviews were still going on during the data collection period.

"England is the first country in the world to have implemented a multi-agency reviewing system on a national basis "

The completed reviews amounted to 2,000 (41%) of the 4,850 deaths of children aged from 0 to 17. Still-born babies were not included; suicides were.

Of these, 110 had been assessed as preventable, suggesting that among the whole group of children who died that year, about 240 deaths might have been avoided.

The numbers of child deaths in England do not vary much year to year.

The boards are asked to look at all factors, including care by the child's parents and any agencies, a report on the statistics says.

It states: "Therefore a preventable death may not necessarily be due to a failure of the local authority to safeguard the child's welfare."

Delyth Morgan said: "Every death of a child is a tragedy and the government is focusing relentlessly on children's safety to drive improvements in practice and continue to learn lessons.

"That is why we introduced a new duty on local authorities to review all child deaths, enabling lessons to be learnt and action taken to prevent deaths in the future.

"England is the first country in the world to have implemented a multi-agency reviewing system on a national basis and this first year has included a wide range of causes, from deaths due to illness and road traffic accidents to suicides and murders.

"We know that in many areas lessons have already been learnt from the reviews and action has been taken to improve policy, professional practice and inter-agency working."

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