Since writing my recent post cautiously welcoming the new
IT system for A&E I have been quite impressed by some of the arguments
against the system!
A letter in the Guardian from Dr Richard Turner makes a
good point that a possible “… unintended consequence that worried parents will
delay or avoid seeking a medical opinion” is an obvious risk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/01/protect-children-from-abuse
A similar point is made elsewhere by someone with whom I do
not often agree, Frank Ferudi. http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/13219/
I think that it is sensible that people treating a child in
A&E should know whether the child is subject to a child protection plan.
Surely that’s what we hope to achieve by such a plan – that all professionals
coming into contact with the child will be aware that this is a child believed to
be at risk. And it is essential that medical professionals are aware that a
child is in care, because the local authority has parental rights.
So a simple database containing these facts can be
justified.
The problems come when considering what else the proposed IT
system will do, and sadly the reports I have read are a bit vague about this.
Any form of crude flagging based on total visits to A&E strikes me as both
silly and potentially dangerous. That might easily cause people to think twice about taking an injured child to hospital.
I hope this is not what is proposed, but experience
of NHS, in particular, and government IT projects, in general, always makes me
cautious and pessimistic.
