Reference Id: OSR14/2012

Publication type: Statistical Release

Publication data: Local authority data

Local authority data: LA data

Region: England

Release date: 24 July 2012

Coverage status: Final

Publication status: Published

The data collection was introduced from 1 April 2008 and is designed to collect information on the number of child deaths which have been reviewed by child death overview panels (CDOPs) on behalf of their LSCBs.

This fourth year of collection covers reviews completed between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 and includes information about the characteristics of the children who died from all CDOPs (for example the age, gender and cause of death).

Data collected from CDOPs on the reviews completed between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 is also available.

Key figures

A total of 4,012 child death reviews were completed by CDOPs in the year ending 31 March 2012.

Of the child death reviews completed in the year ending 31 March 2012, 784 were identified as having modifiable factors (20% of all the child death reviews which were completed. The same proportion as the previous year.)

CDOP are asked to categorise the likely cause of death. Deaths categorised as being due to “deliberately inflicted injury, abuse or neglect” had the highest proportion of deaths identified as having modifiable factors (65%). Deaths due to malignancy had the lowest proportion of deaths which were identified as having modifiable factors, only 2%.

This is based on the child death reviews completed in year ending 31 March 2012 where there was sufficient information available for the CDOP to determine if there were modifiable factors in the death. Modifiable factors were identified in a higher proportion of deaths of older children (with nearly a third of all deaths in children aged 15 to 17 years having modifiable factors identified) compared to younger children (18% of deaths in children aged under 1 year.)

As part of a government drive for data transparency in official publications, we have included supporting data for this publication as an additional table, as well as supplementary information showing the data collection form and the collection guidance notes.

sarah.wolstenholme@education.gsi.gov.uk

Reference Id: OSR11/2011

Publication Type: Statistical Release

Publication data: Underlying Statistical data

Local Authority data: LA data

Region: England

Release Date: 19 July 2011

Coverage status: Final

Publication Status: Published

The data collection was introduced from 1 April 2008 and is designed to collect information on the number of child deaths which have been reviewed by child death overview panels (CDOPs) on behalf of their LSCBs.

This third year of collection includes reviews completed between 01 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 and for the first time includes additional information about the characteristics of the children who died from all CDOPs (for example the age, gender and cause of death). This additional information was optional for last year’s collection. This is also the first year which data has been collected on the number of deaths which CDOPs assessed as having modifiable factors. Previously CDOPs were asked to assess if a death was preventable.

Data collected from CDOP on the reviews completed between 01 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 can be found in ‘Preventable Child Deaths in England: Year Ending 31 March 2010’.

Key figures

• 4,061 child death reviews were completed by child death overview panels (CDOPs) in the year ending 31 March 2011.
• Of the child death reviews completed in the year ending 31 March 2011, 800 were identified as having modifiable factors (20% of all the child death reviews which were completed).
• CDOP are asked to categorise the likely cause of death. They also record the event which caused the death. Death categorised as being due to trauma and external factors had the highest proportion of deaths identified as having modifiable factors (68%). Deaths due to malignancy had the lowest proportion of deaths which were identified as having modifiable factors, only 4%. Deaths where the event which led to the death was drowning had the highest proportion of deaths identified as having modifiable factors (72%). 69% of deaths were the event which led to the death was a road traffic accident/collision were identified as having modifiable factors. This is based on the child death reviews completed in year ending 31 March 2011 where there was sufficient information available for the CDOP to determine if there were modifiable factors in the death.
• Modifiable factors are identified in a higher proportion of deaths of older children (38% of deaths in children aged 15 to 17 years) compared to younger children (16% of deaths in children ages under 1 year). This is based on the child death reviews completed in year ending 31 March 2011 where there was sufficient information available for the CDOP to determine if there were modifiable factors in the death.

As part of a Government drive for data transparency in official publications we have included supporting data for this publication as an additional table, and also supplementary information showing the data collection form and the collection guidance notes.

Sarah.Wolstenholme@education.gsi.gov.uk