Press Releases

08 April 2008

The NSPCC today (8 April) is launching guidance to help those working with children identify the difference between accidental and deliberate burns on children.
 
Up to 58 children a day are hospitalised due to deliberate injuries (1) but some doctors are increasingly reticent to report child protection concerns due to worries that they could misdiagnose abuse.
 
NSPCC director of training and consultancy Enid Hendry said:"CORE-INFO: Thermal Injuries on children will alert professionals working with children to signs of burns that could be as a result of abuse. Deciding whether a child has been physically abused can be a complex decision.  The guidance will help GPs, health visitors, social workers and other professionals to more confidently diagnose whether an injury is accidental or abusive, based on current scientific evidence.
 
"Professionals working with children are a vital link in the child protection chain and need the best possible evidence to take the most appropriate action."
 
Thermal injuries on children is the fourth in the CORE-INFO series, produced by the NSPCC in partnership with the Department of Child Health, Cardiff University. Previous leaflets covered bites and oral injuries, bruising, and fractures.
 
Thermal Injuries on children coincides with the Government's recent announcement that it will be measuring the level of hospital admissions caused by unintentional and deliberate injuries to children and young people as part of a new set of public service agreements (PSAs) to improve children and young people's safety. This additional focus on childhood injury highlights the importance of those working with children, being supported to accurately record and respond to child protection concerns. 

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Notes to editors
1 Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Information Centre for Health and Social Care. Patient count for children (0-18) with an external cause of unintentional or deliberate injuries. Last year in England over 21,000 children who had been deliberately injured were admitted to hospital. This figure includes youngsters assaulted by parents, relatives, childminders and other children.
 
2 CORE-INFO: Thermal injuries in children is free up to the first 5 copies, after which they are priced at 20 per copy. To place an order, or to download a free PDF, please visit www.nspcc.org.uk/inform.
 
3 Thermal injuries in children is the fourth in a series of CORE-INFO: leaflets, which have been produced to summarise the key points from systematic reviews. Previous leaflets examined bruises, fractures and oral injuries. All the leaflets are available from www.nspcc.org.uk/inform