Dr let slip social services are monitoring me.

[Tiredworkingmumof2]

Background: I have a 3 year old and a two year old. Boy and girl respectively. My son started nursery recently and he has been sick with repetitive flu like symptoms. This meant our entire household kept getting sick too. He has previously had two allergic reactions which required trips to A&E. He also has had two eye operations before the age of 2. So to cut it short we are always worried about him and that's just become our parenting style for both of them.

Recent Issue with my GP: I have been taking both my kids more than usual since the start of this reoccurring colds because I always want a second opinion/check/reassurance from a Dr!
My recent visit was for my daughter who has started a course of antibiotics (she had developed some side affects from it). The GP I saw was new to the surgery but friendly. Her first question was to confirm the patient was my child and then asked if I'm aware that she's on the 'Social List'!!! I responded no because this is the first I'm hearing about it. Then she asked if a social worker came to my house or my son has had any issues, which also didn't happen (very alarming). When I pressed for details she said it must be an error and she would get a senior Dr to call me the next day.

No one has called me since (nearly a week now) but I have chased the practice 3 times for answers and it's always, 'we'll call you back'!. Everyday I'm getting more and more stressed about what this means but I have no idea how to pursue this. I want to complain and ask for my records asap. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

One worried mama!!!

@jammydodger - mumsnet is plagued with posters who have done a 2 hour safeguarding course once for a small part of their job and as a result go on to present their (flawed) opinions as being those of a safeguarding professional.

I think we had more than two visits to A and E in less than a yr.with ds1 let alone pre school, one at 5 days old with a rash that wouldn't blanch , one a few weeks later when he fell out of his car seat into a soft surface ,(he was due me not so much) and one at about a yr when he had a choking incident ,he was fine by the time the paramedics got there , and then he swallowed a penny when he was about three .

I hate the phrase "under social services".

I wouldn't worry about it. It will be to do with the hospital visits. But ss will often look at what the cause was for the visit and dismiss it. I was called by our Health visitor after my son's second visit to the hospital..I just said yep everything is okay no issues and that was it.

Why do you hate it icannotremember ?? that is exactly how the Gp worded it.

GP here, we did used to get sent a list each month of children who were our patients who had been referred to social services. Its part of joining up the different bodies children might come into contact with, we had flags on there records and this alerted us to children who presented either frequently or with odd or suspicious reasons.
In A&E there are protocols for alerting social services again if a child has more than certain number of visits in a time period or if there are worrying features.. Fall's etc.
It maybe that your child's attendances at A&E have triggered a ss referral but in my area these are only followed up if ss and medical professionals have concerns.
I know it feels threatening but it's not, it's about keeping children safe following the high profile cases such as baby p and victoria climbe were agencies failed to talk to each other and so no one saw the big picture
I'd try not to worry, make a call to ss and a routine appt to discuss this with your gp and maybe think about some help with your anxiety around the children's health

I work with medical professionals, in my trust there’s a ‘GP liaison’ list, the children on my caseload have multiple medical issues so they’re on the list. All I see on their record is that they’ve been mentioned in the liaison meeting with GPs and HVs to check the professionals all up to date with their health issues.

It could be as straightforward as that. Allfednonedead mentioned something similar. If it was to do with social services you would have heard from them. If it will put your mind at rest by all means check with your surgery but in your position I wouldn’t be worried.

As pp have said there aren't any lists that social services monitor, there isn't any monitoring that occurs without a parent being aware.
Many parts of the country have a system where 3 visits to A&E trigger an automatic referral or notification to the social service department where the DC lives. If social services pick up your case from this you would be aware of this, they dont just start monitoring you without contacting you.
The reason for the trigger is that too many case reviews showed that joined up working between A&E and social work departments might have prevented child deaths.

I work in a and e, every child under five who is booked in has their attendance looked at by the children's safe guarding team at the hospital (Not social services) .under fives are more vulnerable because if they haven't started school and there were safeguarding issues they could slip through the net. If your child is unwell, coughs, colds, infections etc nothing would ever be taken further, why would it? If there was an unexplained injury, or an injury that is rare usually associated with extreme trauma, yes the safe guarding team would look closely at it. Head injuries, broken arms, legs, are common children's injuries and as long as the story matched, and Dr and nurses were happy with interactions between child and parents, nothing would ever get taken any further., and if there were concerns the parents should be told we were filling out a concern form and why, but to our team, not ss. We do have access to child protection lists.
Never be scared to take a poorly or injured child to a and e, we wouldn't penalise anyone for that.

Why do you hate it icannotremember ?? that is exactly how the Gp worded it.

I'm not doubting you, I've heard lots of people and practitioners use the same phrase, it's just one I hate. "Under social services", it gives such a negative impression.

Head injuries, broken arms, legs, are common children's injuries and as long as the story matched, and Dr and nurses were happy with interactions between child and parents, nothing would ever get taken any further., and if there were concerns the parents should be told we were filling out a concern form and why, but to our team, not ss.
In my, very limited, experience of a single A&E visit with a very routine trauma that was witnessed by a couple of other parents, the problem is that no one wants to take responsibility for dismissing the incident as benign. It is much easier to protect yourself and escalate / refer. Our visit turned into a months-long harassment by social services, investigating every minor detail of my life with checklists / questionnaires (surprisingly, everything was fine, but some questions really shocked me), but now my children are flagged everywhere as "known to social services".

When ds3 was 9 months old and I had just returned to work, he burned his finger with my hair straighteners. Long story short, this is the sort of injury I would expected to be flagged to our HV at minimum and ideally to children's services also. In fact at one point I was drawing them a diagram of where he, I and the staighteners had been when it happened with a little written narrative underneath as I knew it would be helpful for the referral! They told no one. I had to bring it up when ds3 had some sort of HV check a few months later- she was totally unaware of it. I'm still not really sure why they didn't flag this as an injury indicating neglect.

It is because they are unwell so I wouldn’t worry
I’d be wary of someone bring their kids for unnecessary gp visits so if it is a cold then you really should treat it yourself.
Wanting a second opinion isn’t great and might imply you are struggling- I don’t know as it does seem strange though.

When my youngest was younger he was in A&E for the following (before the age of 7 though)
Broken Arm (brother pushed him off a top bunk and landed awkward)
Soap powder liquid in eye (had been with older brother messing about and it got in his eyes I should have been watching but they were about 10 and 8 so not toddlers)
Bump on forehead due to tripping over outside and not putting hands out . Hit the concrete . (were witnesses, I am not a child abuser , was not me)

Anyway, the offshot is the SS came out after the third visit . Everything could be and was checked out , witness interviewed who had seen it happen re the bump. School (I had sent a letter in explaining the bump), etc .

You are doing nothing wrong, quite the opposite in fact in my view.

Before aged 8 not 7

Everything could be and was checked out , witness interviewed who had seen it happen re the bump.
What do you think would have happened if you had no witnesses?
This is why I don't touch the state healthcare in the UK. Surprisingly, a private doctor has absolutely no "safeguarding" concerns when attending to a 5 year's old broken arm, and is actually able to talk to the said child and believes them when they explain how the accident happened. No interviewing of witnesses or home visits with assessments of "emotional attachment" between the parent and the child needed.

Any chance there is another child at your practice with the same name? Was your GP looking at the wrong file??

It wouldn't be the first time this happened.

I don't think it is likely that social services are monitoring you or even know about you if you aren't aware of it.
Yes it's true 2 trips to A&e or even 1 in some cases might trigger a referral but you would have heard.
A lot more likely is that your surgery have an informal list of potentially vulnerable families that would eg be able to get an appointment more easily or be on the radar of the health visiting team for whatever reason. Possible reasons for this could include recent bereavement, young parents, premature baby, history of depression, recent split with boyfriend, sick child, multiple birth etc. It could include families under the purview of SS but not necessarily.
To put your mind at rest ring the surgery and ask to speak to the practice manager for an explanation now.

Surprisingly, a private doctor has absolutely no "safeguarding" concerns when attending to a 5 year's old broken arm

Private healthcare should work to the same standards as state when it comes to safeguarding.