Published 25 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3438
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3438

News

UK has more guidance on dealing with abandoned cars than abandoned babies, study finds

Roger Dobson

1 Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Researchers have called for national guidelines in the United Kingdom on how to handle abandoned babies, after they found that only three of 170 NHS organisations have any relevant policies in place.

The authors of the study, from the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, wrote: "There are currently greater provisions in terms of policies for abandoned vehicles than for babies—a sad state of affairs . . . Overall, there is a vast lack of standardised guidelines for dealing with an abandoned baby in the UK, both nationally and institutionally" (Health Policy doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2009.06.002).

The report adds: "National policies on recording and handling of baby abandonments are urgently needed, and future efforts should be concentrated on establishing clear data collection frameworks to inform understanding, guide competent practice and enable successfully targeted interventions."

Major UK institutions that were contacted between September 2007 and April 2008 for information . . . [Full text of this article]


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