Child death panel: Lack of progress criticised by children's commissioner

NI Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma

The Northern Ireland children's commissioner has said she is is "deeply frustrated" by delays in establishing a panel to review child deaths.

Such a panel was one of recommendations of the 14-year inquiry into the deaths of five children in Northern Ireland hospitals.

Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said she was concerned by a "lack of meaningful progress."

The Department of Health said work to set up a panel is ongoing.

Child death overview panels are in place in other parts of the UK and attempt to learn lessons from child deaths and prevent cases from recurring.

The children's commissioner said such a panel would "take the learning from a child's death" and identify systemic failings or common features from which professionals can learn.

"Approximately 150 children die every year in Northern Ireland", Ms Yiasouma said.

"It is a tragedy when any child dies and it places a grave responsibility upon government and statutory agencies to learn from every death to ensure that where further deaths may be prevented, this is identified and acted upon."

Last year the inquiry into the deaths of five children in Northern Ireland hospitals found four of the deaths were avoidable.

The inquiry was set up in 2004 to investigate the deaths of Adam Strain, Claire Roberts, Raychel Ferguson, Lucy Crawford and Conor Mitchell.

The 14-year-long inquiry was heavily critical of the "self-regulating and unmonitored" health service.

Adam Strain, Raychel Ferguson, Claire Roberts and Conor Mitchell. Lucy Crawford's family chose not to release a photograph

"The inquiry recommended the department should review the merits of introducing a child death overview panel in Northern Ireland," Ms Yiasouma said.

"I warmly welcomed this recommendation as the statutory duty placed upon the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland in 2011 to review child deaths, has never commenced."

Ms Yiasouma told BBC Radio Foyle the long wait had caused her a great deal of frustration.

"We still aren't significantly forward enough in the process to learn and understand why our children die," she said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the department wants to "more closely examine developments in other parts of the UK."

"Work to consider the shape of a child death review arrangement in Northern Ireland has been undertaken," the spokesman said.

"Further work is required before final decisions can be made."