About BACCH

Specialty Groups

British Academy of Childhood Disability
www.BACDis.org.uk

Click here for a membership form (PDF file 129kb)

The British Academy of Childhood Disability (BACD - formerly Child Development and Disability Group) is an organisation for professionals working in the field of childhood disability. The group operates as an interest group of the British Association of Community Child Health, a specialty group of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and as the UK branch of the European Academy of Childhood Disability.

BACD encourages membership from all disciplines working in the field of childhood disability.

The aims of the BACD are:

• to be a means of networking and mutual support for all those working in district and tertiary level services for children with neurodevelopmental disability
• to promote communication between Child Development Teams
• to organise regular national multidisciplinary meetings on child development and disability
• to promote the development of quality standards, guidelines for good practice and audit in the field of child development and disability
• to encourage debate and promote research into the many outstanding questions in childhood disability
• to work closely with voluntary organisations and others to advocate for children with disabilities and their families

The BACD committee has representation from the disciplines of Paediatrics, Speech and language therapy, Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Psychology and Nursing.

Read more about BACD membership on their website.

Child Protection Special Interest Group
www.cpsig.org.uk

Click here for a membership form (PDF file)

The Child Protection Special Interest Group was established in the mid 80s to provide a forum for paediatricians working in the field of child maltreatment. The focus of the group was a practical one with the aim to:

• Perform peer reviews by the presentation of case histories and slides of injuries.
• Reach a consensus as to the description of signs.
• Form a platform upon which the interpretation of signs could be discussed.
• Hold regular national meetings with formal lectures and time set aside for members to present cases.
• Aid in the development of local peer group reviews which could then meet on a monthly basis.

The group was to run in parallel with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) -appointed Standing Committee on Child Protection. Now the CPSIG forms the practical and educational side of this group, complemented by the continued political activities of the Child Protection committee. CPSIG eventually became a member of the British Association for Community Child Health (BACCH) and therefore:

• A representative of CPSIG is upon the BACCH and RCPCH standing committee on Child Maltreatment
• A session of the RCPCH Annual Spring Meeting and the BACCH Annual Scientific Meeting is devoted to CPSIG.
• The CPSIG now has an identity of its own based upon an educative agenda with the encouragement of research and audit.
• The CPSIG now has a wide network of members, encouraging the support of colleagues.

The CPSIG is open to BACCH and RCPCH members, and to all professionals working with children in need and in child protection.

Child Public Health Interest Group
www.cphig.org.uk

A group dedicated to the development of child public health within both Paediatrics and Public Health

The initial aims of the group are:

• to raise the profile of child public health (CPH) among paediatricians and public health practitioners
• to assist in developing public health policy in regard to families and children
• to define and develop the training in CPH among the two disciplines
• to clarify working practices in CPH and share examples of good practice
• to identify topics for child health advocacy by the FPHM and RCPCH
• to enable better communication between colleagues in the field, in particular by electronic means.

The areas of interest which have been suggested for the group include:

• national public health policy e.g. poverty and inequalities, nutrition, children’s rights commissioner, legislation on smacking
• promoting paediatrician and child public health involvement in preventive programmes at district level, e.g. Sure Start and Health Improvement programmes, HAZ/EAZ, prevention of child abuse, parenting programmes, child injury prevention, nutrition improvement.
• Supporting the role of FPHM and RCPCH in child health advocacy
• production of materials to support advocacy
• developing training opportunities and syllabus for child public health
• promotion of joint working between Faculty of Public Health and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• developing the role of paediatricians in child public health.

Membership is open to members of the two organisations who have an interest in the subject area, and to child health practitioners from other disciplines. Networking takes place by email and by post but in preference the former.. The newsletters of the FPHM and BACCH will be used to disseminate information about developments in the field of interest.

Currently the co-chairs are Dr John Harvey (john.harvey@haveringpct.nhs.uk) representing FPHM and Dr Mitch Blair (m.blair@imperial.ac.uk) representing BACCH.

SACCH (Scottish Association for Community Child Health)

SACCH is the Scottish sub-group of BACCH, which shares the same constitution but is administered separately to enable Scottish members to hold their own meetings and respond to Scottish issues.

Community Paediatric Research Group

The CPRG is a small group of community paediatricians who are actively involved in research. Meetings take place twice a year and focus on methodological issues related to carrying out research in community paediatrics. The group also provides informal support to its members in developing and carrying out research projects. Specialist registrars and community paediatricians involved in research in the context of MSc courses are welcome to join.

More information can be obtained by contacting:

Dr Rob Moy
Convener of CPRG
r.j.moy@bham.ac.uk

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