Review urged after baby Talha's death

Aug 9 2007 By Steve Still

THE death of Talha Ikram has raised a number of questions - about 300 were raised in court - about whether the boy's care had been good enough.

Father Abid Ikram and his partner Sumiria Parveen had been known to social services mainly because of relationship breakdown issues since 1997 and had originally come under Hammer-smith and Fulham's juristiction.

The couple came under Ealing's authority after they moved to Cheltenham Place two months before Talha's death.

A supervision order was placed on the pair after the 17-month-old was returned to them by a family court and a regular social worker was issued to check on the youngster - but neither of these measures could prevent his death.

An independent report into the care Talha received said at no time were there any fears that either he or Parveen would harm the child.

It suggested social services in both boroughs worked well together and could not have fore-seen the death but it did recommend improvement in the lines of communication between both boroughs and Ealing Hospital where Talha had been taken to six times with injuries.

The last time was on August 14 for a fractured leg, which doctors at first considered non-accidental, but the explanation offered by the father was accepted.

Speaking to the Gazette, a hospital spokesman said: "It was looked at as non-accidental but the explanation from the father was found to be consistent with the injuries.

"Doctors did check to see whether he was on the child protection register, which he wasn't."

He added it was regretted that a social worker was not consulted but that in future it would be good practice for doctors to do so and "doctors' training will aim to raise their threshold of concern".

The independent report has called for a review of the links between supervision orders and the Child Protection Register.

Children under supervision orders are not automatically placed on the CPR, which, if they were, would have given Ealing Hospital easy access to Talha's history.

The death initially raised the spectre of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie, who died in 2000 after being tortured for months.

The inquiry then found massive failings in her care and instigated a social services shake-up.

But Ealing Council insisted: "These are two separate cases and it would be wrong to compare them.

"Ealing Council fully implemented the Laming recommendations following the Climbie case and we have robust referral and assessment systems in place."

Talha died at Central Middlesex Hospital on September 6.