Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health.

The Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) for Stockport, Tameside and Trafford (STT) reviews all child deaths that occur in our three districts so that we can learn why our children die and what as a system we can do differently to prevent this happening, or if that death is inevitable, ensure the child has the best death possible and their family and carers are supported throughout.

The report sets out the key 5 recommendations from 2021/22 CDOP annual report and reviews progress against the 8 recommendations for 2019/21.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

(1)  Note the CDOP 2021/22 main report and endorse the recommendations for the coming year.

(2)  Review the actions taken as a result of the 2019/21 recommendations.

Officer contact: Ben Fryer on 07929 847904 or email: ben.fryer@stockport.gov.uk

The Director of Public Health submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) presenting the Annual Report of Stockport, Tameside and Trafford’s Child Death Overview Panel 2021/2022, outlining the key five recommendations from the 2021/22 Child Death Overview Panel annual report and reviewing the progress against the eight recommendations for 2019/21.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care (Councillor Keith Holloway) attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Scrutiny Committee.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Members requested clarification in relation to recommendation 8c which encouraged only one embryo to be implanted in IVF procedures, to reduce the risks from multiple births.

·         In response, it was commented that when an IVF procedure takes place it used to be common practice for more than one embryo to be implanted to increase the chances that one of those embryos survived through to a live birth, however this also increased the chance of a multiple birth. It was noted that the human body has a limited capacity to support embryo development which meant that multiple births were riskier than singleton births and there was a direct correlation between multiple births and the risk of children resulting in more miscarriages, stillborn children and children born with various abnormalities. It was reported that there was strong work from IVF clinics and the regulator, HFEA, which had led to an increasing number of successful outcomes from IVF and fewer complications resulting from multiple births. Whilst the person undergoing the IVF procedure would have the choice around the number embryos implanted during the procedure, it was hoped that the current trend of single embryos being implanted would continue as this was reducing the number of child deaths.

·         Members noted the importance of the report and thanked officers.

·         In relation to recommendation 5b working with Public Health Directorates to support the delivery of smoking cessation interventions at a population level, thereby reducing the risk of smoking to children, it was queried whether there was a policy to encourage pregnant women to use vaping as an alternative to smoking cigarettes and whether vaping was a safer alternative.

·         In response, it was stated that the policy was to support all pregnant women to stop smoking if they were willing and able to engage with the services and included any tool available to aid this. In relation to whether vaping caused harm during pregnancy, it was commented that there wasn’t enough data to comprehensively rule out harm to the foetus, however it was certain that vaping was vastly less harmful than smoking.

·         It was queried why the Child Death Overview Panel annual report was being considered by the Scrutiny Committee on this occasion.

·         In response, it was commented that the item could be accommodated on the agenda and was a welcomed opportunity to raise the profile of the important recommendations contained within the report.

·         It was queried how the service ensured that all relevant deaths were reported into the Child Death Overview Panel for Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.

·         In response, it was stated there were a number of approaches to ensure that all deaths were captured within the figures which included a legal mandation that all deaths were reported to the Panel via a number of partners, additional checks were undertaken on a variety of databases where deaths were normally recorded and the Panel liaised closely with the coroner. It was noted that there were discussions that took place where a child dies outside the area that the child normally resides to ascertain which Panel would look at that particular case.

·         In relation to the recurring modifiable factors in recent Child Death Overview Panel cases, it was queried why there was a greater focus on tackling obesity in comparison to reckless driving when the number of deaths as a result of the modifiable factors were the same.

·         In response, it was commented that the recommendations in the report largely respond to the long standing causes of child deaths and whilst the report referenced one year of deaths, the Panel considered data and patterns over a longer period of time. It was reported that obesity was an issue that had impacted on child deaths over a number of years which was why there was a strong focus on obesity as a modifiable factor, whereas there were less historical child deaths related to reckless driving across the three boroughs. However, the Panel were working with the police in relation to reckless driving and supported ongoing educational campaigns on this matter. It was noted that should the statistics change, the focus of the Panel would change accordingly.

·         It was requested that the service expand on how deprivation linked to child deaths and queried whether there was any comparative data with other parts of the UK.

·         In response, it was commented that every child who died had a significant impact on their family and friends and no level of child deaths was acceptable, however to draw robust statistical comparisons between geographies required a dataset that included a reasonably large number of deaths across a substantial number of years or geographies. At present, the Child Death Overview Panel for Stockport, Tameside and Trafford did not hold enough data to robustly conclude that there were more deaths in deprived areas, however at a national level there was enough data to show a strong correlation with child deaths and deprivation. The reasons for this were multiple and complicated relating to the list of modifiable factors contained in the report and other factors such as poor quality housing which contributed to the risk of death for any given child.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.