ACCIDENTS, suicide and other external factors were responsible for one in 10 deaths of Swindon and Wiltshire children in the past five years.

The figures were published in an annual review of child deaths by county safeguarding chiefs. Last year, the authorities were notified of 42 child deaths, with the majority of the youngsters dying in their first year.

Wiltshire and Swindon’s child death overview panel said it was important that lessons were learned from each tragedy. The group is made up of representatives from the borough and county councils, the NHS and the police.

The panel said deaths caused by abuse, neglect, suicide, self-harm or other external causes made up nine per cent of deaths reviewed in the last five years.

A third of the 203 child deaths over the past five years were unexpected – the remaining 137 were children with known illnesses or life-limiting conditions. In the report, obtained exclusively by the Swindon Advertiser, the panel said: “We are fortunate that a child death is a rare event in our society.

“However, each death represents a tragedy for the family and the purpose of the child death review process is to identify potentially modifiable factors which may prevent future deaths from happening.”

In a quarter of cases probed by the panel last year, the report said there were factors that contributed to the child’s death and which could be avoided in the future through changes to policy and practice.

“This is lower than the latest national figures,” the report said.

Summarising lessons from recent cases examined by the panel, they warned that health visitors may miss opportunities to provide appropriate support and advice if families are living across more than one household.

It was important to understand “normal family routines and the context in which they take place”, the panel added. “This is of particular value for chaotic families when giving safe sleep advice.”

It raised the difficulty facing council children’s services departments and other agencies when families move into the area from another region. Schools needed to be informed promptly of a child’s death through official channels.

And the panel noted: “Families can experience financial hardship following the death of a child as benefits and child maintenance support are stopped and the parents may be unable to work for a period of time.”

It was important for staff responding to child deaths had easy access to counselling, the panel added.