AUDIT OF HEIGHT MEASUREMENT AT AGE 3 YEARS - RESULTS OF A SURVEY OF SCOTTISH HEALTH BOARDS

Height measurement at about the age of 3 years is accepted as a routin e practice by all 15 Scottish health boards and is a recommendation of the Hall report Health for all Children. As part of a Scotland-wide p roject to assess the feasibility of audit of preschool surveillance pr ogrammes using routinely collected data, all boards were asked for inf ormation about this procedure. The results show that, while all boards confirmed its usefulness as a screening measure, only one board was r ealistically able to audit height measurement at this age at all stage s using routinely available data. The whole screening process, includi ng programme management, equipment validation, staff training and refe rral criteria, was examined using the quality standards defined in the Hall report. Results showed a wide variation between boards. For exam ple, fewer than half of the boards provided guidelines for height meas urement at age 3 to all professionals involved. The availability of ev en basic outcome data, such as numbers of children measured at this ag e was patchy, although this will improve with the introduction of the national computerised preschool surveillance system. Two boards have n o plans to record such data routinely. In conclusion, before outcome d ata can be used and relied on, health boards and trusts need to develo p local guidelines including quality standards such as age limits for measurement, programme management, provision of equipment, and review and referral criteria for inclusion into contracts.