Setting up supplementary datasets
Throughout the summer and autumn of 2018 the project team has engaged with a panel of national experts to advise on the questions for capture in the ‘supplementary‘ datasets.
The new CDOP forms were issued by the Department of Health and Social Care in September 2018. These fields are the core NCMD dataset.
The supplementary datasets cover the following areas:
- Acute epilepsy
- Asthma and anaphylaxis
- Cardiac: congenital or acquired
- Care Pathway
- Chromosomal, genetic or congenital anomaly (excluding cardiac conditions)
- Death of a child with a life-limiting condition
- Death of a child with an oncology condition
- Deaths on a neonatal unit
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Infection
- Sudden unexpected deaths
- Suicide or self-harm (including alcohol or substance abuse)
- Trauma or external factors – further sub-divided into the following categories:
- Death as a result of fire / burns or electrocution
- Death as a result of injuries sustained from a falling object
- Drowning
- Falls
- Poisoning
- Vehicle collisions
- Violent or maltreatment related deaths
We are grateful to the experts and advisers who gave their time and expertise to help develop and finalise the datasets.
Background to the Supplementary Forms
The first set of supplementary forms was published by Department for Education in 2010. They were designed to ask more detailed questions on specific types of death to enable a finer granularity of data collection than was offered by the 3 standard CDOP forms (previously known as Form A, B and C – now known as the notification, reporting and analysis forms).
We knew at the start of the project that the supplementary forms were not used consistently by all CDOPs. We also knew from talking with CDOPs that there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the questions asked on forms A B and C. Some of the questions were seen as irrelevant and others that should be asked were not included. Some CDOPs had also developed their own more comprehensive supplementary questions, enabling their panels to adequately review the deaths of their residents.
As part of the NCMD project, we wanted to update and expand the forms, ensuring they met the needs of CDOPs and collected relevant and useful information to inform our understanding of child mortality.
Many of the original supplementary forms remain ( including Violent or maltreatment related deaths, Suicide or self-harm, Vehicle collisions, Death as a result of fire / burns or electrocution, Drowning, Poisoning, Death of a child with a life-limiting condition, Deaths on a neonatal unit and Sudden unexpected death). However, some are for new areas which have not previously had a supplementary form.
The new supplementary forms reflect some of the most common causes of death amongst children and also map to the categorisation of death classification system used on the statutory analysis form (previously Form C).