Better safeguarding work leads to fall in violent injuries

Statistics uncovered by Cardiff University and related to visits to accident and emergency departments, minor injury units and walk-in centres in England and Wales show an 18 per cent decline in injuries caused by violent attacks against children and young people of all ages up to 17.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd, lead author of the study and director of the violence research group at Cardiff University, said improved child protection procedures across health, social care and justice settings are a key factor in the decline.

He said: “Attacks against children and adolescents are down by nearly a fifth. This trend could be attributed to a number of things from improved child safeguarding policies in the wake of the Baby Peter tragedy to increased information sharing on community violence between the NHS, police and local government.”

The report notes that the rate of decline of violence against children and young people is almost double the 10 per cent fall in injuries caused by violent attacks overall. 

The figures were gathered from a sample of information from 117 health settings in 2014.

The NSPCC has welcomed the latest findings but warned against complacency among child protection professionals.

A spokesman said: “Many children are still subjected to the most terrifying violence every year – there were more than 9,000 contacts about physical abuse to the NSPCC helpline last year alone. With research showing one in 20 children suffering sexual abuse and one in 14 children being physically abused, there’s still a long way to go to ensure that children are protected from harm.”   

Latest figures for the NSPCC’s Childline service for 2013/14 showed an 18 per cent fall in calls about physical abuse compared with 2012/13. However, Childline noted there had been no similar decline in incidents of emotional abuse and neglect.