Improving practice in safeguarding at the interface between hospital services and children's social care: a mixed-methods case study
White S, Wastell D, Smith S, Hall C, Whitaker E, Debelle G, Mannion R, Waring J
Record ID 32015000318
English
Authors' objectives:
The study addresses the following primary question: 'Can a safeguarding culture be designed within the hospital environment that will provide the conditions for the detection of children at risk of abuse and support protective actions before discharge, including collaboration with external agencies?' Objectives include the development of a sociologically rich understanding of why diagnostic failures and communication breakdowns occur; the design of a suite of integrated interventions for promoting a positive safety culture, following a user-centred approach; and the evaluation of the effectiveness of this package, including its generalisability across sites.
Authors' recommendations:
Safeguarding takes place in a complex system and even minor changes within any part of that system can impact on the rest in unpredictable ways. It is important that managers adopt a 'design attitude' and seek to mitigate unintended consequences through careful experimentation. The findings suggest the need for the design of systems to enhance communication and not simply to 'share information'. Technological solutions impact on everyday decision-making and can have unintended consequences. Attention to forces of change and stasis in health settings, the factors affecting technology transfer and the impact of the configuration of local authority services are suggested as a key priorities for future research.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
Year Published:
2015
URL for published report:
http://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/hsdr03040/#/abstract
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Not Assigned
Country:
England, United Kingdom
MeSH Terms
- Child Care
- Child, Hospitalized
- Child
- Family
- Parents
- Socioeconomic Factors
- Delivery of Health Care
- Risk Factors
- Preventive Medicine
- Patient Safety
Contact
Organisation Name:
NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme
Contact Address:
NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK
Contact Name:
journals.library@nihr.ac.uk
Contact Email:
journals.library@nihr.ac.uk
Copyright:
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.