A catalogue of failings by the NHS meant a series of opportunities that could have saved Baby P's life were missed, the health regulator says.The toddler, who has now been named as Peter, was seen by health services 35 times before his death in August 2007.
Two doctors involved in his care have already been suspended.
But the Care Quality Commission said services across Haringey in London were poor, prompting an apology from the NHS trusts involved.
Baby P suffered over 50 injuries by the time of his death aged 17 months.
The catalogue of abuse he suffered emerged during a court hearing at the end of last year that led to the conviction of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger for causing his death.
The case led to heavy criticism of local social care arrangements with some council staff losing their jobs as a result.
There were clear reasons to have concern for this child, but the response was simply not fast enough or smart enough
Cynthia Bower, of the Care Quality CommissionThe 35 contacts with the NHS covered visits to a GP, health visitors, consultant paediatricians, hospitals and walk-in centres.
The regulator criticised three trusts in particular - Haringey, which was responsible for the community services, North Middlesex Hospital and the specialist children's hospital Great Ormond Street, which provided the paediatric staff for both the local trusts.
It said system failure meant medical records were not shared between different health services and NHS workers did not properly alert social services and police to their concerns.
Staff shortages and delays in assessments were also noted.
Despite this, all three trusts have in previous years reported that they complied with official standards covering child protection.
This issue is now central to the second report the CQC is compiling into the way the rest of the NHS carries out child protection duties.
Scans
But the CQC pointed out that staff did not follow protocols when they were in place.
Bone and skeleton scans were not always carried out to give a clear picture of Peter's injuries.
The report said the consultant who saw Peter two days before his death and noted bruises and marks over his body did not alert a social worker.
The paediatrician was Dr Sabah al-Zayyat, a locum who is one of two doctors suspended and being investigated by the General Medical Council.
THE NHS SUCKS.
- BRITS HATE IT.
- LABOUR PROMISED TO FIX IT BUT IT'S GOTTEN WORSE AND IT'S COSTING THE PM BIGTIME.
- YET OBAMA AND THE LIBS WANT TO BRING IT HERE.
DON'T BE DUPED.
DISSENT ACCORDINGLY.
That last dr missed a broken back and ribs because she didn't do all the procedure since the baby was cranky--according to the article in the telegraph--UK society has just gone to hell--25 years of labour and their nanny state=here we come. This story has left me sick
ReplyDeleteWE CAN FIGHT THEM!
ReplyDeleteWE DEFEATED HILLARYCARE AND AMNESTY; WE CAN DEFEAT THIS!
1. It's simply not true that Brits hate the NHS.
ReplyDeleteIt has its problems but, by and large, the population holds it very dear to their hearts
No major party in the UK wants to get rid of the NHS (including the Conservatives)nor do they threaten to cut funding
David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader siad that he believes that "nobody" in the country wants a smaller NHS
2. It has got better in the last 10 years - massively so. To the point that 95 % of people using the NHS say they had a good or very good service. I myself have never had a bad experience at the hands of the NHS.
That is not to say we should ignore the problems with the service - the Baby P issue is a terrible situation - and should never be forgetten.
IN the UK we get massive negative propoganda about your healt system - which purportedly "leaves people to die unless they have a credit card" or words to that effect. I don;t belive that's true for a secon.
please don't swallow the ridiculous anti-NHS propoganda that the US population gets dealt on a daily basis - its actually a pretty good system, and guess what - it costs half as much per capita as the US version!