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Safeguarding children
Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility: UK government statement on the duties of doctors
Correspondence to:
Professor Terence Stephenson, Academic Division of Child Health, School of Human Development, Nottingham University, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK; terence.stephenson@nottingham.ac.uk
The first duty of the paediatrician is to the child or young person
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Over the past few years, some paediatricians have faced legal action as a result of their involvement in child protection cases. Others have had vexatious complaints of which only a tiny minority have been upheld.1 2 A survey of members of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) found that 13.8% of over 4500 respondents had been subject to a total of 786 complaints about child protection and that the number of complaints per year had increased from less than 20 in 1995 to over 100 in 2003.3 Of those complaints resolved at trust or NHS level (including the NHS Ombudsman), less than 3% were upheld. Of 87 referrals to the UK General Medical Council (GMC), only that against Dr David Southall was upheld. The GMC extended the 2004 ban against him working on child abuse cases by a further 12 months on 23 July 2007.
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