Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP)

Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership (SSP) is responsible for ensuring that a review of each death of a child normally resident in the SSP’s area is undertaken by a CDOP. The CDOP will have a fixed core membership drawn from organisations represented on the SSP.

The functions of the CDOP include:

  • Reviewing all child deaths, excluding those babies who are stillborn and planned terminations of pregnancy carried out within the law.

  • Collecting and collating information on each child and seeking relevant information from professionals and, where appropriate, family members.

  • Discussing each child's case, and providing relevant information or any specific actions related to individual families to those professionals who are involved directly with the family so that they, in turn, can convey this information in a sensitive manner to the family.

  • Determining whether the death was deemed preventable, that is, those deaths in which modifiable factors may have contributed to the death and decide what, if any, actions could be taken to prevent future such deaths.

  • Making recommendations to the SSP or other relevant bodies promptly so that action can be taken to prevent future such deaths where possible.

  • Identifying patterns or trends in local data and reporting these to the SSP.

  • Where a suspicion arises that neglect or abuse may have been a factor in the child's death, referring a case back to the SSP Chair for consideration of whether an SCR is required.

  • Agreeing local procedures for responding to unexpected deaths of children.

  • Cooperating with regional and national initiatives - for example, with the National Clinical Outcome Review Programme - to identify lessons on the prevention of child deaths.

In reviewing the death of each child, the CDOP should consider modifiable factors, for example, in the family environment, parenting capacity or service provision, and consider what action could be taken locally and what action could be taken at a regional or national level.

Suffolk SUDIC Protocol webpage is now live - suffolksudic.org.uk

How to Notify CDOP of a Child's Death

It is a statutory requirement to notify CDOP of all child deaths from birth up to their 18th birthday. If there are a number of agencies involved, liaison should take place to agree which agency will submit the Notification. However, unless you know someone else has done so, please notify CDOP with as much information as possible.

From 1st April 2019 we have moved to an electronic reporting system called eCDOP, to report all child deaths in Suffolk.

To notify Suffolk CDOP of a child death please access the new eCDOP reporting system at: https://www.ecdop.co.uk/NorfolkSuffolk/Live/Public

This link takes you straight to the “A. Notification of Child Death” form, which replaces the old “Form A”. You do not need a user name or password to access this form.

Please complete as much of the information requested as possible. Sections marked with a red Asterisk are mandatory.

Once completed please press the submit button and you will see a message confirming that the form has been sent to CDOP. At this stage you also have the option to save a copy for your own records.

Please destroy any blank copies of the old Form A as they will no longer be accepted.

If you have any problems or queries regarding the new system, please contact the Suffolk CDOP Administrator, Amy Underwood, on 01473 264354.

You can also contact the Child Death Overview Panel via email on CDOP@suffolk.gov.uk

Child Death Review Team

In 2019 the Ipswich and East Suffolk and West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), now Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (SNEE ICB), commissioned a Child Death Review (CDR) Team to ensure a coordinated health response compliant with the Government Child Death Review Statutory and Operational Guidance for all child deaths of children (under the age of 18), normally resident in Suffolk.

The CDR team will ensure that every family has an allocated lead professional and key worker from either CDR team or wider multiagency team who will be a point of contact for information sharing and effective communication for the family and professionals. The CDR Nurses will ensure that every family no matter how their child has died will be offered support throughout the Child Death Review Process.

The CDR team are available Monday to Friday, 8am – 4pm and can be contacted on telephone: 01473 770089 or email: suffolk.cdr@snee.nhs.uk.

For further information, please see the document Managing Child Deaths in Suffolk

For all deaths regarding a child in the Waveney area please follow this link to the newly formed CDR team for that area:

Useful Resources

  • 7 Minute Briefing - Suicide - SSP

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  • SUPC Framework May 2022

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CDOP Local Newsletter

Suffolk CDOP publishes a newsletter, sharing key messages with the local community about child health, safety and wellbeing and can be found  on the Healthy Suffolk website.