Child protection guidelines within a London mental health trust state that all mental health professionals should identify patients who have dependents, if so it should be established that these dependents are safe, and any concerns should be taken forward to relevant agencies.

Establish if child protection guidelines are being followed in emergency psychiatric assessments.

Establish whether patients are being asked whether they have dependents, if the dependents are safe, and whether concerns are being discussed with child protection services.

An audit was carried out in which documentation from 3 days of emergency assessments where examined to see whether the above questions were being asked.

In cycle 1, 11 out of 18 patients asked about dependents, 7 had dependents, 4 were documented as being safe, 3 raised child protection concerns, 0 taken forward. In cycle 2, 7 out of 17 patients asked about dependent, 6 had dependents, 3 documented as being safe, 0 child protection concerns were raised.

Patients are not being asked about dependents during emergency assessments. This did not improve despite the intervention of an oral presentation of the audit results, sending all staff an email link to child protection guidelines, including a summary of the audit findings, and displaying a flowchart of the guideline in the emergency assessment centre. Further research is needed to see what interventions at a local level can improve this.