New training to protect babies

Health professionals have welcomed an initiative by a leading children's charity to ensure their child protection training enables them to pick up early signs of difficulties in babies. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has produced a comprehensive training pack for midwives, health visitors, GPs, practice nurses and hospital staff to help them care for infants. According to the NSPCC, babies are two-and-a-half times more likely to be put on child protection registers than other children, with more than 4,000 added each year, of whom 41 per cent are registered for physical abuse.