Primary care trusts, along with local authorities, should draw up local strategies to help prevent some of the two million visits of unintentionally injured children to emergency departments each year in the United Kingdom, says a new report from the Audit Commission and the Healthcare Commission.
The joint report says that the government has failed to tackle the problem and should spell out what is needed locally to prevent accidental injuries.
Injuries such as those caused by burns, falling down stairs, and poisoning are a leading cause of death and illness in children aged from 1 to 14 years old and account for about 120 000 admissions to hospital a year in England. The annual cost to the NHS is estimated at £149m (€220m; $290m).
Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said that the efforts of national and local government to reduce the numbers of accidents in children were “a disgrace.”
“For too long, this issue has been pushed down the agenda. No single agency or body has taken a clear lead,” said Professor Kennedy.
“Health services need to collect robust data on the types and causes of injuries that they see in the children who they treat.”
The report says that the gap between the poorest and wealthiest families in the number of injuries in children is widening.
Michael O'Higgins, chairman of the Audit Commission, said: “Children of parents who have never worked or have been unemployed for a long time had 13 times the risk of dying from an accident and were 37 times more likely to die as a result of exposure to smoke, fire, or flames than children of parents who worked in managerial or professional jobs.”
The report criticises the lack of a coherent government strategy and a failure to tackle the problem at a local level. Ad hoc local initiatives have not had enough of an effect, it says, possibly because of poor coordination.
But it does highlight examples of good practice around the country, including a scheme in the borough of Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale that succeeded in making homes safer for young children.
Central government should state more clearly what is needed locally and provide more information on what works, the report says. It also suggests that primary care trusts and local authorities need to know how and where accidents occur, by pooling their information.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We realise the importance of accident prevention, and we will look at the report's conclusions with great interest and will consider its recommendations carefully.”
Better Safe than Sorry: Preventing Unintentional Injury to Children is available at www.healthcarecommission.org.uk or www.audit-commission.gov.uk.