Child Death Review

The child death review was the first project carried out by CMACE in the field of child health and it was intended to be a pilot for confidential enquiry in this area. The study provided an overview of all child deaths (from 28 days to 18 years) in the South West, West Midlands, North East of England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2006.

Key data on all child deaths occurring in these regions was collected and detailed confidential case reviews were held on a subset of these deaths with a focus on identifying preventable and avoidable factors. This project provided a foundation for future confidential enquiry work in the field of children's health.

The work was also used to inform the development of a dataset for use by Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) set up by the then Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF (now the Department of Education)) to review all children's deaths. 

This project was completed in May 2008 with the publication of "Why Children Die: a pilot study".