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Better guidance needed for doctors to protect children

05/09/2008

Better guidance is "urgently" needed for doctors in child protection cases, health experts have said.

A report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) today claims the guidance is required to prevent doctors from being deterred from raising concerns about child abuse and acting to protect them.

The number of complaints against paediatricians relating to child abuse work increased more than 500 per cent between 1995 and 2003.

Since 2003, registration of children for emotional and sexual abuse have increased while those for physical and sexual abuse have declined, a statistic the authors of today's report claim shows doctors may be avoiding work related to abuse.

The authors maintain there is a "basic confusion" relating to doctors' duties when it comes to child protection and that they have conflicting duties to both the child and the parents.

More specific guidance is therefore required from the General Medical Council (GMC) and other professional bodies, today's report claims, adding that complaints against health professionals in child protection cases should be subject to independent scrutiny before being referred to their professional bodies.

The report concludes that the public also needs to be better educated about child protection work so that the exact role of doctors in abuse cases is better understood.