Calderdale services underestimated risk to abused baby

The report, by Calderdale Safeguarding Children Board, found that Calderdale care services and combined health services showed particularly serious shortcomings in the case of Child C, whose parents were convicted of offences of child cruelty.

The review said although the child, whose mother was a drug user and had had two previous children removed from her care, was on the child protection register, "an unrealistically positive" view was taken of her parents' capacity to provide adequate and safe parenting.

It cited a lack of management by health and care services, poor communication between agencies, significant delays in family assessments, poor levels of contact between the allocated social worker and the parents, and systematic failures in care services as factors in the case.

Communication between health professionals was found to be "significantly below the accepted standard", with "an assumption by each health care professional that others were managing the situation". The report also found that care and health services did not engage effectively with the child's father.

NHS Calderdale's chief executive, Rob Webster, said the organisation accepted the findings of the report. He said: "This is an extremely upsetting case where a little girl suffered serious injury as a result of the actions of her parents. I am sorry that this was not prevented during our contact with the family.

"A thorough internal investigation took place at the time of the incident almost three years ago. Immediate action was taken and a number of improvements made, including additional training for clinical staff. The recommendations from this report for health services provided by the NHS in Calderdale have also been implemented fully."

Calderdale's Comprehensive Area Assessment this month rated the council's children's services as adequate but said there were weaknesses in the completion of socal care assessments.