Health visitors and school nurses will have access to data about vulnerable children three years ahead of schedule in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
NHS Digital is making sure school nurses and health visitors have access to its Child Protection Information Sharing (CP-IS) system to strengthen protection of vulnerable children.
The system alerts staff when children who are subject to a child protection plan, or children designated as ‘looked after’, or pregnant women who have an unborn child protection plan, present at an unscheduled care setting.
This extension to the service was part of a broader programme due to be introduced by 2023.
Martin Dennys, programme director at NHS Digital, said: ‘We are working around the clock to extend the crucial information shared through Child Protection Information Sharing to school nurses and health visitors as quickly as possible, to provide what could be a crucial extra layer of information and protection at a time when local arrangements for such data-sharing may be difficult to administer.’
