Childhood Accidents (indeed all accidents) seem to be a bit of a poor relation in the public health & health promotion field despite the fact childhood accidents are a major cause of death, disability and injury and can be predicted and in many cases prevented by fairly straightforward interventions.

Accidents are also a key area of health inequalities with children from the poorest homes much more at risk.

Accidents were a key area in Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (DH 1999) but rather slipped off the agenda in recent years.

Accidents received a fair bit of attention in the Acheson Report DH 1998 (into inequalities in health) but again this did not seem to translate into action / intervention at government / local level.

The DH set up the Accidents Task Force who produced the report Preventing Accidental Injury - Priorities for Action (DH 2002) which appears to have had little impact as yet although some of the recommendations have appeared in Choosing Health.

Recently we have had:

Every Child Matters (as part of the Change for Children programme) and the 5 outcomes for children including Staying Safe
Children's National Service Framework and the Child Health Promotion Programme
Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier (The Public Health White Paper)

all of which contain reference to injury prevention and which provide a fantastic opportunity to put accidents firmly on the agenda.

We hope that Sure Start - Safe Start will provide a conduit for information sharing, good practice and an exchange of ideas that will help raise the profile ofaccident prevention in Cornwall.

Download Summaries of accident prevention content:

ECM
Children's NSF
Choosing Health

Accidents by Type