Why do nhs staff ask this?

[Realitea]

I took dd in today to a walk in centre and one of the first things they asked was if we were mum and dad and then if we’re known to social services. I thought that was a bit of an odd question. I just wondered if they ask everyone this or whether they were judging me and dh?
Maybe I’m overthinking a bit!

I also must be lucky that I’ve never been talked to like crap or treated like shit by hospital staff, whilst they care for my asthmatic son

^not lucky, this is standard in my experience of both working in the NHS and being a patient's mother too. Certain posters on this thread like to regularly demonise NHS HCPs.

When I had to take dd to A&e following an allergic reaction, I saw the same nurse twice whilst being triaged. Ss were involved in the past due to my violent abusive ex, and obviously I declared it. The nurse remembered us from the first visit, so I didn't have to go into detail again, but I was asked questions such as whether or not there was any danger he would rock up to the hospital and cause problems, I presume so they could inform security.

However, I noticed that she had CP stamped in big red letters all over her notes so assume a pp is right and it does have it all over the notes onscreen anyway.

The pp who said that people involved with ss wouldn't take their dc to A&e in the first place is misguided and ignorant. Some of us have had ss involvement for our own protection, and that of our dc, and as others have said, for any needs the dc might have.

There's quite a lot of people having their backs up for no good reason on here. Just because your child is not being mistreated does not mean the next child who walks through the door isn't at risk. (Not aimed at op)

They are standard questions, they're not singling anyone out. They should be asking the same basic questions to the middle class business parents as they do to any other parent.

As for the state of children coming in, the professionals dealing with families know what normal is - felt tip, (fresh) food down clothes and muddy knees is pretty ok, filthy clothes, inappropriate clothing for the weather and poor hygiene is not.

A pp commented that they felt that asking all of these questions might be evidence gathering but it can work both ways - say a malicious allegation was made in the future, the observations of the child could work in the families favour.

As for the information sharing, it's a running theme throughout serious case reviews that little snippets of things were held by many organisations and not shared in order to gain a bigger picture of what was really going on.

I didn't know only poor people abused children.

So if you're abusive and poor, then you get a good job and big house and become middle class - do you stop abusing your kids?

Who said that fluorescent

Lots of posters seem to think they shouldn't be asked about ss because they are middle class - as if middle class people don't abuse their kids.

Oh ok

"Remember how people asked why nobody did anything? Well, they are trying and still being criticised. One of the main criticisms from both those cases was poor sharing of information."

Can't win can they. Evidently, as seen from some responses here, they shouldn't ask 'me', just everyone else. As it should be quite obvious 'I' am an acceptable person.

Should there be a tick box, under the name field, which reads:

Gave 'Paddington stare' on being asked first question Needs no further questions as obviously is respectable

In the process of ds beinh diagnosed with autism and with his multiple health problems my parenting has been under the spotlight many times over the years. But at no point have I taken offence at that, they can’t properly judge the situation with ds without having a clear picture of the whole family and circumstances.

I'm a childminder and always ask new parents if they have parental responsibility, if they have a social worker, if they are involved with any other agencies. They are all quite basic safeguarding questions now.

I was asked whilst DS was in hospital. We were also asked if he had any siblings, and who was looking after them whilst both DH and I were in A&E. The Dr said it wasn't unheard of for some children to be left home alone while both parents attend the ill one.

The rugby shirt doesn't necessarily identify the school (they could have moved schools or borrowed a shirt from someone) and in any case why should the nurse search a dirty rugby shirt for the school name when the parent could just tell them!

I have never lied about SS. I have used walk in centres, A&E, called 999, called 111 etc. for my DCs. I will actively tell them if they don't ask, which some of them don't. Yes, please let the social worker know. By all means, give her a call (saves me doing so later). She can explain to you what's going on so that I don't have to and can concentrate instead on my poorly or injured child and getting them the healthcare they need. The social worker won't be telling them anything I don't already know, and will actually be saving me the bother.

What are they going to think? That I proactively and promptly sought medical care when it was appropriate to do so? Shocker.

@Sirzy please can you help me with at what point SS become involved during ASD assessment? Thanks for any pointers

"- felt tip, (fresh) food down clothes and muddy knees is pretty ok, filthy clothes, inappropriate clothing for the weather and poor hygiene is not."

DD decided short shorts were appropriate the other day. As they fit her when she was 8 and she's now almost ten they were effectively hot pants :o

Are medical files marked when there has been a non-accidental injury? This is about an adult, not a child.

Obviously the medical staff should be finding out this sort of thing from everyone, however affluent or sorted they seem to be at a glance. How else will the unusual cases properly start ringing alarm bells? Every professional needs a solid day-in-day-out experience of the range of "normal" situations that happy and well-looked-after children are in, and what the typical range of answers to these questions are, so that when the thankfully rare red-alert situations come up the differences should hopefully be more clear. If they only start probing if they already have suspicions, what can they compare the answers to? Only other suspicious scenarios?

A HCP can ask me anything for all I care. If it saves one child from abuse, I couldn't care less.

To the prev poster who would think twice about seeking medical care for their child due to how an HCP made them feel.......to be honest, that is pretty concerning. Their well-being surely comes before how you may feel? Maybe it was the way I read it, but please don't worry about SS involvement. They wouldn't give two hoots about an injury sustained innocently. Really. The NHS are doing all they can to protect children. That means letting social services know as appropriate. The fact it had no comeback shows it is nothing to fear.