Under 16s Database Recommendation from Climbie Inquiry

A recommendation that the government should actively explore the benefit to children of setting up a database on all under 16s has come from the Victoria Climbie Inquiry published this week.

The inquiry report says that within the next two years a feasibility study and a pilot study should be conducted on an under 16s database to explore its usefulness in strengthening the safeguards for children like eight year old Victoria, who died of neglect and abuse inflicted by her great aunt, Marie-Therese Kuoao, and Kuoao’s partner, Carl Manning.

The inquiry report includes numerous recommendations on future good practice in record keeping and information sharing by the professionals and agencies involved in child protection.

In the report’s section on health services, head of the inquiry, Lord Laming, observes , “Although the evidence that I heard on these matters was restricted to the working practices of the staff at two hospitals only, I am concerned that it is representative of an institutionalised failure within the health services to properly manage information and to give that task the prominence and attention it deserves.”

The report noted that there was a consistent failure by doctors and nurses at both hospitals involved in treating Victoria to record information comprehensively, to record and share concerns, and to record and complete the actions that the concerns prompted. Worst of all, nobody noticed when things were not being done.

The full report can be found the Victoria Climbie Inquiry website.