Child Death Review

RHC for Health Professionals
NHS GGC
The Child Death Review (CDR) process was launched on the 1st October 2021 by the Scottish Government and is hosted jointly by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate as the National Hub. 
CDR requires one quality review into the life and death of any live born infant aged 22 weeks gestation or more, child or young person up to aged 18, or up to the age of 26 for those who are care experienced and still in receipt of ongoing care or aftercare*. All children who die in Scotland should have their death reviewed, whether they are normally resident or not. This may be done jointly with the CDR team in their resident area - more information can be provided by the National Hub, to support this. Scottish children who die in other nations of the UK, or abroad, should also have their death reviewed as much as this is possible. 

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde(NHSGGC) commenced implementation planning in early 2021, introducing a soft launch of the service on the 1st June 2021 prior to the formal commencement in October.

The implementation commenced with the recruitment of a team of clinicians and administrators to support the process, followed by the construction of a system to manage the reviews and a governance framework to ensure a robust service provision.

The aim of the review process is to ensure that the death of every child is reviewed to an agreed minimum standard. We focus on identifying modifiable and preventable factors to deliver change. It is important to improve the experience and engagement with families and carers. We provide feedback to the National Hub who collect learning from across Scotland that could direct action to avoid preventable deaths.

The review is multiagency including Health, Social Care, Education and other public service partners such as the Scottish ambulance service, Police or Justice System (Procurator Fiscal) involved in the care of the child as well as well as an opportunity for the parents / carers to ask any additional questions they may have.

In the majority of circumstances, healthcare will be the primary lead for CDR, however on some occasions the lead role is better devolved to our partners in one of our six Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP)

Due to the regional and national services offered by Paediatrics and Neonatology within NHSGGC we often care for children from other health boards and in such cases our team will support the review process being carried out in the patients residents health board

The review may not take place for more than a year until all the information has been collated.

*The terms 'continuing care' and 'aftercare' refer to the legal terms as follows:
  • Continuing care means that subject to a welfare assessment, a care leaver is enabled to remain in the same accommodation (i.e. in foster care, kinship care or residential care, but not secure care) and with other assistance as was being provided by the local authority, at the time they ceased to be looked after.
  • Aftercare means the advice, guidance and assistance that local authorities provide to care leavers (who are not in continuing care) up until their 26th birthday.

Child Death Review Team: who we are & how to contact us

  • Dr Amita Sharma – Clinical Lead for Child Death
  • Dr Lynn Macleod – Clinical Lead for Sudden Unexpected Death in Children
  • Dr Laura McGlone – Clinical Lead for Neonatal Deaths
  • Ms Coral McGowan – Programme Lead for Child Death Reviews
  • Ms Elena Falanga – Co-ordinator Child Death Reviews
  • Ms Anne-Maria Healy - Child Death Reviews Secretary 

Our team can be contacted by email or phone:

Email: ggc.cdr@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

Phone: 07929659967

How can you help the CDR team?

Please spread the word about this valuable initiative!

  • It is a mandatory requirement to have a death review take place for every child/young person in Scotland.
  • We want to recognise good practice as well as honestly and openly look for learning which may improve future practice.
  • We also want to improve the experience and engagement with families, carers and staff involved in this process.
  • Thank you for taking the time to read this information

Information for staff on the Child Death Review Process including FAQs

You can find the RHC Child Death Reporting SOP, more information for staff and the answers to frequently asked questions on this page.

Useful information and resources

Websites and Family Information

Support Organisations and Charities

Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 16/12/2025

Next review date: 31/12/2027

Author(s): Lynn Macleod; Amita Sharma; Coral McGowan.