DOES THE CHILD HEALTH COMPUTING SYSTEM ADEQUATELY IDENTIFY CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL-PALSY

Background This paper assesses the usefulness of the Child Health Comp uting System as a source of information about children with cerebral p alsy. Methods A comparative survey of information held on the Child He alth Computing System (CHCS) and the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy R egister (NICPR) in one Health and Social Services Board in Northern Ir eland was carried out. The sample com prised children with cerebral pa lsy aged 5-9 years, Results Of the 135 cases recorded on the NICPR, 47 per cent were not found on the CHCS; the majority of these children h ad no computer record of any medical diagnosis, Of the 82 cases record ed on the CHCS, 10 (12 per cent) were not found on the NICPR; five of these cases (6 per cent) were found on follow-up not to have CP. Concl usions Unless improvements are made in case ascertainment, case valida tion and recording activities, the evidence suggests that the CHCS wil l not be able to provide the same quality of information for needs ass essment and surveillance of very low birthweight infants in relation t o cerebral palsy as is provided by a specialist case register.