The North West London Child Death Review Team is a nurse led service (NW London CDR), that carries out Child Death Reviews (CDRs) for Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. It deals with about 150 child deaths a year.
North West London (NW London)
All child deaths should be reported via the link below. You do not need a password to access the form
eCDOP: https://www.ecdop.co.uk/NWLondon/Live/Public
The NW London CDR service acts in accordance with the statutory guidance for the CDR partners.
The CDRs are carried out by the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP). There is a fixed core membership on the CDOP drawn from key organisations represented on LSCPs, including Public Health, Designated Nurses for Safeguarding Children’s Social Care, a Designated doctor for child death, Midwifery, Neonatology, the London Ambulance Service, Police, Education and Charites such as SUDC/Lullaby Trust.
The NW London panel is divided into three distinct meetings. One is connected to Harrow, Brent, and the Central London Tri Borough (Flute). The third covers Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon (Triangle). The neonatal panel deals with all neo-natal cases across the eight boroughs of NW London. Each panel meets six times a year. The results of the CDOP process are reported annually.
The conclusions of each panel discussion are sent to the National Child Mortality Database, which identifies national issues that require action or further exploration.
The aim of the NW London CDR process is to look at the service provided locally by agencies, to identify if there are gaps in the provision and to ensure that appropriate support and care have been put in place for the family following the child’s death.
Where lessons can be learnt from individual cases, the panel will identify actions that need to occur and feedback to the agency concerned.
CDOP also has responsibility for identifying any themes that may occur in relation to child deaths and make recommendations about them.
Where the death is sudden and unexpected it is dealt with via a Joint Agency Response meeting which is attended by all agencies who have known the child. At this meeting professionals share relevant information about the circumstances leading to the child’s death and identify who is going to offer bereavement support to the family/carer.
This procedure applies when a child dies unexpectedly (birth up to 18th birthday, excluding babies stillborn or planned terminations), or where there is a lack of clarity about whether a death of a child is unexpected. An unexpected death is defined as the death of a child not anticipated as a significant possibility 24 hours before the death, or where there was a similarly unexpected collapse leading to or precipitating the event that led to the death.
The aim of the procedure is to ensure that the response is safe, consistent and sensitive to those concerned, including that bereaved parents and siblings receive similar approaches across London.
Following notification of a sudden unexpected and unexplained death a Joint Agency Response is required. A police officer may undertake a home visit with a child death review nurse, assisted by Children Social Care where appropriate, to assess any additional factors that may help understand the circumstances/causes of death.
The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) have released training videos on the CDR Process for all agencies. The training videos are for those involved with a death of a child, particularly with the sudden unexpected deaths
There are 10 videos, varying in length from about 5 min to half an hour, about 2h40m worth in total, covering a breadth of topics round child death. There is also a child death booklet that you can also use along with the videos.
https://uclpartners.com/ncmd-webinars/
and type in the password NCMD1Webinar*
For further information on the child death review process please contact
Email: nhsnwl.cdr@nhs.net
CDR Team: 020 3350 4044