Issue - meetings

20.       

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22.       

22.1.      The Board considered a report on the multi-agency arrangements in place to safeguard children in East Sussex.

22.2.      The Board asked whether a child staying overnight in a hospital without a bed would be a safeguarding issue.

22.3.      Stuart Gallimore clarified that an absence of a bed is not deemed a safeguarding issue in the legal sense of posing an immediate threat of harm to a child. Were a member of public to report that as a safeguarding issue to the Children’s Services Department, the Department would likely pass it on to the hospital to deal with as a complaint

22.4.      The Board asked about the significance of the changes to child death reviews.

22.5.      Reg Hooke, Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) Chair, explained that the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) examines all child deaths that occur in the area. The review that led to change in the legislation made two main recommendations: 1) the data in one county (due to the small number of deaths) was insufficient to identify specific trends that could be addressed, so data should be examined across a sub-regional level – in this case pan-Sussex; and 2) the Panel should come under the oversight of the bodies responsible for health, i.e., the CCGs and local authority, because the issues emerging are in the majority of cases health related. Stuart Gallimore added that this was a centrally driven requirement that all local authorities had to respond to.

22.6.      The Board RESOLVED to note the report