Child Protection and Information Sharing System

Derby City Council's link to the NHS England national Child Protection and Information Sharing system (CP-IS) is now live.

The Child protection information sharing project is an NHS England national initiative that has been developed to improve the protection of children known to children’s social work services.

The project links the IT systems of NHS unscheduled care settings (hospital emergency departments, out of hours GPs, walk in centres, minor injuries units, paediatric wards, ambulance services and maternity units) to the IT systems used by Children’s social work so that information can be shared about children subject to a child protection plan; children in care looked after) and pregnant women whose unborn child is subject to a pre-birth child protection plan.

Only basic details of the child will be shared including name, DOB, address and whether they are looked after or subject to a child protection or pre-birth plan. No details of why the child is subject to a child protection plan or is looked after will be provided.

The child’s details will remain on the system for 12 months after the child protection plan ends or the child is discharged from care.

Medical staff will be able to access the system to check whether a child who is being treated at their setting is on the list and social services will receive an electronic notification every time a child on the list has their name searched. Medical staff will then contact social services to provide details of the reason for the child being seen and whether any concerns have been identified.

CP-IS is a secure system and only authorised staff involved with the care of a child can access the information.

The CP-IS system is governed by a national information sharing protocol which provides the necessary safeguards for the handling of personal sensitive information.

Further information can be found on the NHS Digital webpage Child Protection - Information Sharing project.