Agenda item

The Board received the South Yorkshire Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) Annual Report for 2021-22.  In outlining the background to the Annual Report, Dr Rupert Suckling confirmed that there was a South Yorkshire CDOP group, together with individual Panels for the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield areas.  It was explained that, because child deaths were relatively rare, having a South Yorkshire group allowed the data to be pooled, which enabled improved identification of themes, trends and shared learning than could be achieved at the individual CDOP level.

Dr Suckling reported that during the past year, at a South Yorkshire level, a thematic review had been undertaken into maternal obesity and its impact on child mortality.  On a local level, the Doncaster Panel had focused on two areas, one being suicides, with the suicide contagion protocol being instigated and learning areas identified and shared with relevant agencies, and the other being deaths in children related to unsafe sleeping.  Dr Suckling concluded by summarising the salient points in the data around causes of death at the back of the report, which had seen a rise in deaths caused by chromosomal, genetic or congenital anomalies, and he explained that steps were being taken to quicken the completion times for reviews in Doncaster in the future.

In response to a question regarding the higher number of child deaths in Doncaster compared to Barnsley, Dr Suckling explained that Doncaster was much bigger than Barnsley and he explained that the focus of this report was on the recording of deaths rather than the numbers of deaths.  He also pointed out that infant mortality rates in Doncaster were improving.  Dr Suckling also explained the reasons behind the reported increase in numbers of child deaths in the 0-28 days age group across South Yorkshire.

Richard Parker stated that he had shared the Annual Report with the Local Midwifery Neonatal Services to ensure that there was joined up working.  He explained the importance of recording maternal BMI, as referenced in the Report, as this drove a higher acuity in relation to the needs of the mothers at birth, and in the perinatal, antenatal and postnatal periods and this, in turn, was driving an increased demand for midwifery staff, as the numbers of mothers presenting for delivery at the higher acuity levels 4 and 5 were significantly increasing.  It was therefore noted that the recording of the maternal BMI data was vital not only for improving outcomes for mothers and their babies, but also from a resourcing perspective to assist in anticipating future demand within maternity services.

Riana Nelson stated that she was keen to see the relationship between the CDOP and the Council’s wider children’s services strengthened and would be happy to engage with the Panel in looking at ways of improving reporting processes and timescales.

Arising from discussion, Dr Rupert Suckling undertook to feed back comments to the Doncaster CDOP regarding including in future reports a section on the ‘Voice of the Child, Young Person and Family’, as referenced in Sheffield CDOP’s report, and also a suggestion of applying an equalities lens to child deaths in order to identify any correlations with deprivation and other factors.

RESOLVED to note the Annual Report.