Serious case review

Findings Haringey’s safeguarding children board issued recommendations last November to ensure that lessons were learnt and services improved.

Response Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary, rejected it as inadequate and said that it should be redone. A second review has been submitted to Ofsted.

Review of safeguarding

Findings The Government comissioned an urgent review of safeguarding in Haringey in November, carried out by a team from Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. It concluded that the local services’ contribution to improving outcomes for children at risk was inadequate and needed urgent and sustained attention.

Response Ed Balls described the findings as devastating. George Meehan, the Haringey Council leader, and Liz Santry, the Cabinet member for children and young people, resigned. Mr Balls removed Sharon Shoesmith as director of children’s services, but she remained suspended on full pay. She was sacked later by a panel of councillors and told that she would not receive any compensation, which she contested unsuccessfully.

Last month Haringey sacked Cecilia Hitchen, the deputy director of children and families, for loss of trust and confidence. Maria Ward, a social worker, Gillie Christou, the team manager, and Clive Preece, the head of safeguarding services, were sacked for gross misconduct.

Great Ormond Street Hospital/ General Medical Council reviews

Findings In May last year an independent review into Dr Sabah al-Zayyat, the consultant paediatrician who saw Baby P two days before his death, recommended more training and actions to improve child protection services.

Response The GMC reviewed the concerns and imposed conditions on the consultant’s registration, allowing her to continue to work under supervision. After the trial of Baby P’s mother and her partner, the GMC decided that it was in the public’s interest to suspend the consultant’s registration pending an investigation. It will be reviewed again on June 18.

In February the GMC suspended Dr Jerome Ikwueke, the GP who twice referred Baby P to hospital specialists after becoming concerned about marks on his face and body. The 18-month suspension will be reviewed after six months, pending an investigation into his conduct.

Lord Laming review

Findings The independent report on child protection in England, published in March, found that too many authorities had failed to adopt reforms introduced after the death of Victoria Climbié in 2000. It identified inadequate training, overstretched staff, overcomplicated computer systems and a lack of communication between officials. Its 58 recommendations included retraining children’s social workers on a new government-funded postgraduate course focusing on child protection, and the recruitment of more health workers to relieve excessive caseloads — many have been dealing with more than 500 families each.

Response This month the Government commmitted £60 million to bring about a “step-change” in child protection, with better training, recruitment campaigns and appointing members of the public to child-protection boards. Measures include: sponsoring 200 university places to allow the brightest graduates to join conversion courses to become social workers; a campaign to bring back 500 people who have left the profession; a programme to allow experienced staff to develop their careers while still working on the front line.

British Medical Association The doctors’ body has published a child protection “toolkit” for its 130,000 members, emphasising measures including detaining children in hospital if abuse is supected and carrying out examinations without parental consent if required.

Reports still to come

National review of safeguarding The Care Quality Commission has asked all trusts in England to describe what arrangements they have in place to ensure that they have effective child protection systems in line with government core standards and national statutory guidance. It is due to report in July.

An independent review is also under way into how Haringey social services dealt with the case of a girl raped by one of the men responsible for Baby P’s death.