Health visitors urged to step up accident prevention
Friday November 2nd, 2012
Campaigners want health visitors to step up efforts to teach young parents how to avoid serious accidents.
As many as four infants an hour need hospital treatment for accidental injury, according to the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
In 2010 there were 83 deaths in the UK of children under the age of five from accidents.
The Trust says children from disadvantaged families are three times as likely as others to suffer accidental injuries.
It says health visitors have a key role to look around the home and advise parents of simple changes to keep their children safe. This may include measures to ensure a child cannot grab a hot drink.
The Trust is now running a masterclass on burns and scalds prevention - and is encouraging health visitors to use its resources to learn more about this.
Trust chief executive Katrina Phillips said: "We know that health visitors face increasingly demanding and complex workloads, but we also know that they are one of the most trusted professionals in touch with parents whose children are most vulnerable.
"That’s why we want to do all we can to support health visitors to engage with parents about accident prevention."
She added: "Accident prevention isn’t about wrapping children up in cotton wool, it’s about protecting them from serious accidents – those which can hospitalise, disable or even kill. Some common accidents can have a lifelong impact on the child and their family, and put them under enormous pressure."
Tags: A&E | Child Health | Nursing & Midwifery | UK News
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