Putting things in place

A lot has already been said about the case of a child starved to death in Swindon. I’m not going to comment on what could or should have been done… I haven’t followed the case in enough detail to do so. However, the response of the agencies involved to their own report is odd, but sadly familiar.

HEALTH workers followed procedure when dealing with the heart-rending case of 11-month-old Kimberley Baker.

This is the message from the woman in charge of protecting the welfare of Swindon’s youngsters.

Hilary Pitts said midwives and health visitors kept to protocol, despite failing to pick up on the baby’s maltreatment….

The 16-page review outlines 20 recommendations to the agencies that dealt with the family, including Social Services and Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust….

“It is difficult to think any system is perfect, but I think the procedures and practices were in place.’

That there are twenty recommendations in the report suggests there were at least twenty instances where procedures and practices were not in place. How someone could conclude otherwise is difficult to understand.