Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and illness among children and causes more children to be admitted to hospital each year than any other reason. There are numerous factors that create the conditions in which these injuries occur such as age, gender, social class, environment and behaviour. But, crucially, many of these injuries are preventable. It is a major concern for all those seeking to improve health and reduce inequalities.
This joint study by the Audit Commission and the Healthcare Commission examines the deployment of resources, arrangements for working in partnership and activities to prevent unintentional injury to children, especially the under fives.
Based on the findings from this work of nine sites across England, five key themes were identified where improvements could be made to prevent unintentional injury to children and these were:
- national policy
- local strategy
- partnerships
- resources
- data
This report demonstrates how improvement can be made nationally and locally. The recommendations made in this report could be applied to a number of public health topics providing a valuable contribution to the delivery of public health initiatives.