VICTORIA CLIMBIE

victoria climbie

Victoria Climbie

There are many recommendations from the Victoria Climbie´ Inquiry and it is beyond the scope of this article to mention them all. However, Lord Laming states: 'I strongly believe that in the future those that occupy senior positions in the public sector must be required to account for any failure to protect vulnerable children from deliberate harm or exploitation.' This for me is the key principle in his findings. Victoria Climbié inquiry concerns the way information is managed within hospitals and between hospitals and other health and welfare organisations.

There are a number of examples where it is felt there was no system operating which was designed to ensure that requests for information and work to be done were followed up and that there was a lack of what the inquiry terms 'systematic care'. It argues: The accurate and efficient recording of information cannot be left to the individual diligence of the doctors and nurses concerned. They must be supported by a clear system that minimises the risks of mistakes and provides a mechanism for recognising mistakes when they occur. The greater the pressures are on staff, the greater the need for a system to support them. He emphasizes that effective support is not possible by a single agency working alone. This emphasis on multidisciplinary and multi-agency working was highlighted in previous reports, but Laming does change the focus for action on real changes in the structures for children. He focuses on real difficulties in England with different boundaries between health and social services, with local authorities becoming more numerous and health authorities fewer. He calls for improvements on a national level with a Minister for Children and ensuring that decisions affecting children are considered in this context. He also believes that there should be a National Children and Families Board. (Sharmi Jappar 2009 Pp. 1)

Lord Laming concluded that the problem is not with the law but with its implementation. The Inquiry Report discusses the current arrangements for safeguarding children by the development of a National Child Protection Agency; however, Lord Laming rejected this because he believed that it was impossible to separate children from the wider support from their families. I believe he was right in this. Lord Laming hoped that his 'report will be used for the future training of social workers, police officers, doctors and nurses'. He believed that there needed to be an impact on practice immediately. He also believed that there needed to be much better exchange of information, which should not be impeded by the Data Protection Act. The Inquiry was also concerned on the influence of race in Victoria's case, and whether she would have been treated differently if she had been a white child. Particular recommendations relevant to health professionals The Healthcare Recommendations of the Inquiry are detailed in the appendix of the Inquiry Report. There are 26 of them (Sharmi Jappar 2009 Pp. 1).

Previous reports were followed by brief almost ritual blaming of junior social workers by the media ...