A clinical practice guideline on When to suspect child maltreatment is being developed for use in the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Registered stakeholders for this guideline are invited to comment on the provisional recommendations via this website.

Although individuals and organisations not registered as stakeholders are able to comment, we recommend that you contact the registered stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to them. We work closely with stakeholder organisations and take their views very seriously.

• List of registered stakeholders and information on the progress for this guideline topic

Note that the provisional recommendations presented here do not constitute the Institute's formal guidance on this topic. The recommendations are provisional and may change after consultation.

Consultation dates:  16 December 2008 – 10 February 2009

Consultation documents:

• Full guideline
• NICE guideline
• Appendix A Search strategies
• Appendix B Evidence tables
• Appendix C Excluded studies

The full version describes the evidence and views that have been considered, and sets out the provisional recommendations that have been developed.

The (NICE) short version presents the provisional recommendations only with some brief supporting information.

Points to consider in the consultation:

Full version

• Points or areas that are not covered, but which appear to fall within the scope of the guideline
• Potential inconsistencies or any disagreement with the Guideline Development Groups interpretation of the evidence
• The practical value of the provisional recommendations.

Short version

• Issues of style and format; for example, stakeholders may feel that the information could be made more readable and easy to follow.

How to submit your comments:

• Please use the comments proforma and return by email to sca@nice.org.uk

The Institute is unable to accept:

• More than one response per stakeholder organisation
• Comments received after the consultation deadline (5pm)
• Comments that are not on the correct proforma
• Confidential information or other material that you would not wish to be made public
• Personal medical information about yourself or another person from which your or the person?s identity could be ascertained.

What will happen to your comments:

• All comments (with the exception of personal, individual comments and late comments) will be sent to the developers at the end of the consultation
• Comments from registered stakeholders and nominated expert reviewers ONLY will be formally responded to by the developers and posted on the NICE website after the final guideline is published
• No action will be taken upon receipt of personal, individual comments and late comments.
• PLEASE NOTE: The Institute reserves the right to summarise and edit comments received during consultations, or not to publish them at all, where in the reasonable opinion of the Institute, the comments are voluminous, publication would be unlawful or publication would be otherwise inappropriate.

Acknowledgement of comments:

You should receive an automated acknowledgement from the email box when you email your comments.  If you do not receive this acknowledgement, please contact the relevant Guidelines Coordinator to ensure your comments have been safely received.

Comments received in the course or consultations carried out by the Institute are published in the interests of openness and transparency, and to promote understanding of how recommendations are developed. The comments are published as a record of the submissions that the Institute has received, and are not endorsed by the Institute, its officers or advisory committees.

Anticipated publication date: July 2009

Further information

• More information on NICE's guideline development process