NICE offers guidance to help prevent injuries to children
13:19 - 29/06/2010
NICE offers guidance to help prevent ...
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is developing public health guidance to help prevent unintentional injuries to children and young people during outdoor play.
Every year more than 450,000 children across the UK are taken to emergency departments after injuring themselves while playing outdoors and the cost of treating injured children on the NHS is continually rising.
The draft guidance relates to children under the age of 15 playing in environments such as playgrounds, skate parks, canals, fields and farmyards and is aimed at anyone who has a direct or indirect role in, or responsibility for, caring for children and young people and keeping them safe from harm.
The institute is quick to highlight the importance of outdoor play and exercise for children and they stress that they are not trying to discourage it but are simply attempting to prevent unnecessary injuries. The draft guidance suggests that this can be achieved with better and more accessible safety information, advice and education.
The move by NICE to develop guidance for safe outside play follows the message issued earlier this year by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (SCRC) that good risk management, not risk aversion, is the key when it comes to physical activity for children.
Comments and feedback on the draft guidance are welcomed via the NICE website until 13th July and the final version of the guidance is expected to be published in November of this year. It is one of five pieces of guidance currently being developed by NICE. The other drafts will address road design and modification, education and protective equipment, risk assessments to prevent home injuries and will also include strategies, legislation, regulation, enforcement, surveillance and workforce development.
Mike Kelly, Public Health Excellence Centre Director, NICE, said: “Outdoor play is important because it introduces children to some degree of risk which helps build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem. Nobody wants to wrap children in cotton wool and prevent them from leaving the house, but equally, no-one wants to see children killed and injured when they are playing outdoors. So it’s vital children and young people, parents and carers, are given the right safety information so they can avoid preventable injuries.”
Pete Stock, Business Development Manager for the paediatric sector, says: “We can offer a range of training courses to provide parents and carers with the correct information they need to keep the children and young people that they are responsible for safe and well. It is not always possible to prevent children from ever injuring themselves, and we don’t want to stifle their play, but adults have a duty to take appropriate measures to protect the children in their care.
“Our Health and Safety for Child Carers training course covers - among other topics - legislation, risk assessments, accident prevention and first aid. By the end of the course carers will know how to effectively assess the environment the child is in and spot any potential hazards. They will be able to manage these risks and allow the child to play safely.”
For further information please call us today.
Every year more than 450,000 children across the UK are taken to emergency departments after injuring themselves while playing outdoors and the cost of treating injured children on the NHS is continually rising.
The draft guidance relates to children under the age of 15 playing in environments such as playgrounds, skate parks, canals, fields and farmyards and is aimed at anyone who has a direct or indirect role in, or responsibility for, caring for children and young people and keeping them safe from harm.
The institute is quick to highlight the importance of outdoor play and exercise for children and they stress that they are not trying to discourage it but are simply attempting to prevent unnecessary injuries. The draft guidance suggests that this can be achieved with better and more accessible safety information, advice and education.
The move by NICE to develop guidance for safe outside play follows the message issued earlier this year by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (SCRC) that good risk management, not risk aversion, is the key when it comes to physical activity for children.
Comments and feedback on the draft guidance are welcomed via the NICE website until 13th July and the final version of the guidance is expected to be published in November of this year. It is one of five pieces of guidance currently being developed by NICE. The other drafts will address road design and modification, education and protective equipment, risk assessments to prevent home injuries and will also include strategies, legislation, regulation, enforcement, surveillance and workforce development.
Mike Kelly, Public Health Excellence Centre Director, NICE, said: “Outdoor play is important because it introduces children to some degree of risk which helps build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem. Nobody wants to wrap children in cotton wool and prevent them from leaving the house, but equally, no-one wants to see children killed and injured when they are playing outdoors. So it’s vital children and young people, parents and carers, are given the right safety information so they can avoid preventable injuries.”
Pete Stock, Business Development Manager for the paediatric sector, says: “We can offer a range of training courses to provide parents and carers with the correct information they need to keep the children and young people that they are responsible for safe and well. It is not always possible to prevent children from ever injuring themselves, and we don’t want to stifle their play, but adults have a duty to take appropriate measures to protect the children in their care.
“Our Health and Safety for Child Carers training course covers - among other topics - legislation, risk assessments, accident prevention and first aid. By the end of the course carers will know how to effectively assess the environment the child is in and spot any potential hazards. They will be able to manage these risks and allow the child to play safely.”
For further information please call us today.
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