For the purposes of these procedures, an unexpected death of a child is:
- where the death was not anticipated as a significant possibility 24 hours before the death; or
- where there was a similarly unexpected collapse leading to, or precipitating the events which led to, the death
Where professionals are uncertain about whether a death meets these criteria, they must consult with the local designated paediatrician for unexpected deaths in childhood.
A preventable child death is one in which modifiable factors (i.e. factors that could be subject to intervention such as parenting capacity or environment )may have contributed to the death.
