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Children's Officers and bring into their discussion other agencies such as the N.S.P.C.C. and
to prepare by the 1st October, 1970, a report on the progress of such arrangements. By that
time, this authority had already started a register of children suspected of having been abused
and interdisciplinary case conferences were being held whenever such a diagnosis was made.
The approach favoured by local authorities closely reflected the advice given by the Central
Health Services Council in their Memorandum on the Battered Baby (mid-1970). The Principal
Medical Officer acted as co-ordinating officer for the Health and Welfare Department and a
preliminary meeting took place at the Postgraduate Centre, Brook Hospital, on 20th October
1970, with representatives from the Health and Children's Departments, Brook Hospital
Paediatricians, Local Medical Committee, N.S.P.C.C. and the Police.
The discussion centred around the following three points:—
(i) awareness of this syndrome
(ii) early notification of suspected cases
(iii) education of medical, legal and social workers to develop a more understanding
approach to the problem.
It was decided that the only way to ensure appropriate action was to designate one person
to be responsible for collating all reports of suspected cases and organising follow-up. In the
view of the Committee this person should be medically qualified. The Principal Medical Officer
was nominated as the designated Medical Officer for this purpose and all General Practitioners
were informed.
The Group Medical Advisory Committee of the Hospitals was approached and representatives
of the Casualty Departments of the Hospitals were invited to subsequent meetings.
A short synopsis of the cases notified between meetings is discussed by the Committee.
Discussions with the Orthopaedic Surgeons responsible for Casualty Departments in Hospital
took place. All injured children under the age of three years, treated in the Out-Patients
Departments serving this area are notified. The previous histories and home conditions known
to the Health Department are compared and the results assessed by this Committee.
During 1969 four cases had come to the knowledge of the Health Department, three have
been placed through the Children's Department with Foster Parents and one by the Health
Department with a Child Minder.
During 1970, 17 cases (14 boys, 3 girls) were suspected of having suffered wilfully inflicted
injuries. Subsequently 4 were cleared and the remaining 13 were dealt with in the following
ways:—
3 came before the Court (one was referred for psychiatric treatment, one was returned
to the parents, although neglect had been proved, and one was placed in the care of a
foster mother — this was an illegitimate child).
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