At-risk children not listened to, report warns

Nurses and other healthcare staff must listen to and do more to identify children at risk of harm, a report has warned.

The review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said there is a lack of consistency in services protecting and promoting the health and welfare of children.

It recommended staff in the health and social care sectors should work with those in education, the police and the justice system to identify vulnerable children effectively.

Not heard

The CQC analysed 50 inspection reports written between September 2013 and December 2015 to compile its review, entitled Not Seen, Not Heard.

It said in a number of instances relating to looked-after children in England, young people felt their voices were not being heard, which left them feeling uninvolved and subject to impersonal care plans.

The CQC also said services do not always share information with each other, leading to a delay in action being taken or, in some cases, nothing being done.

Ineffective

The report highlighted how GPs in one area were not routinely responding to requests from school nurses and other professionals for information relating to the health of children subject to child protection plans.

In almost one third of cases where a child was referred from an A&E department, the referrals were not considered effective.

While the review praised health professionals for improving the way risk is assessed, it said there is an ‘insufficient drive’ in the healthcare system to look for those children who have not already been identified as in need of help.

‘Suffering in silence’

CQC chief inspector of general practice Steve Field said: ‘The number of children identified as having been abused or exploited is just the tip of the iceberg – many more are suffering in silence.

‘As new risks emerge and more children are identified as being in need, it is more crucial than ever that staff across health and social care, education, the police and the justice system all work together.’

The report commended work by a group of school nurses who developed a four-week course for young women at risk of child sexual exploitation.

National Children’s Bureau chief executive Anna Feuchtwang described the report's findings as ‘deeply worrying’.

‘This report underlines yet again that the health needs of children in care are not being met and that the health providers that serve them do not always properly value children’s views and experiences,’ she said.

Further information

CQC report: Not Seen, Not Heard