Calls for Starship child unit inquiry

Calls for Starship child unit inquiry

Former Health and Disability Commissioner Robyn Stent is calling for an inquiry into practices at Starship hospital's child protection unit after it wrongly accused parents of child abuse. Stent, whose stepdaughter was suspected of assault when the haematoma on her baby's head developed as a result of a difficult birth, said the unit was like a "police station" and was treating parents as guilty until proven innocent. She's concerned the unit, set up in 2002 to bring a co-ordinated approach to child abuse and involving Child, Youth and Family and police, does not have proper written procedures for abuse cases and is not profiling families to determine the likelihood of abuse. And she says doctors insist on expensive, unnecessary and potentially risky scans to look for further evidence of abuse. "It's an incredible waste of taxpayers' money."