Project to improve child protection information sharing between social care and the NHS in England
Following an announcement by Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter in December 2012 that the Child Protection - Information Sharing (CP-IS) Project has been approved, Liquidlogic, a McKesson company, is delighted to announce that it has been selected as one of the initial development partners with key Local Authorities working with the Department of Health.

CP-IS will flag to appropriate healthcare staff where a child is the subject of a child protection plan or is looked after by a Local Authority.  This will apply in unscheduled health settings, such as  emergency departments, GP out of hours services, walk-in centres, ambulance services, maternity and paediatric wards and will also display, the contact details of the responsible children's social care team.

Jim Sullivan, Sales Director of Liquidlogic comments: "CP-IS is a significant step forward in secure information sharing and, ultimately, child protection.  Where there is a pattern of abuse, effective and secure information-sharing is essential to protect children and to facilitate closer inter-agency working. CP-IS will be a valuable tool in this work."

A log of those who have viewed the child protection plan or looked after status for a child , and where, will also be retained for both social care and healthcare staff, enabling them to confirm whether a child has been visiting a range of unscheduled healthcare settings, regardless of geographical location, and this could be an indication of ongoing abuse and neglect.  It is important to note that this will only apply to children who are subject to a child protection plan or looked after children.

Liquidlogic is working with a Local Authority for the 'first wave' of pilot sites for CP-IS, the project is scheduled to go live in Spring 2014.  A second phase to include additional geographical areas will follow.

Existing Liquidlogic customers who are interested in taking part in the second phase of the project should contact their Liquidlogic account manager for further details.