Sudden unexplained death in childhood: Charity hails new NHS efforts

NHS England has "never shown so much support" to stop children dying without explanation, a charity which works to prevent unexplained deaths has said.

Sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC) is a rare category of death in which the cause remains unknown even after thorough investigation. Currently there is very little awareness or research into its causes.

NHS England has said it will now begin a series of measures to change this, a move welcomed by the charity SUDC UK, including:

• Piloting systems to improve education of health professionals and gather data to help identify modifiable factors which will go on to establish processes to help manage the deterioration of children.
• Improve information given to families and professionals about SUDC.
• Separately, data from every child whose death has been put down as SUDC since 2019 will being reviewed by the National Child Mortality Database.

Dr Nikki Speed, from the charity SUDC UK, described the plans as revolutionary.

"This is such positive historic progress, a landmark moment. Never has the NHS shown such support to stop sudden unexplained death in childhood," she said.

"Never has there been such a clear statement to review public information on SUDC, optimise data collection and learn how we could prevent future tragedies.

"We finally have confidence that things will progress in our fight to stop SUDC."

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Source: BBC News, 15 October 2022