5.9 Guidelines for Medical Photography for Suspected Non-Accidental Injury of Children |
- Photographs of suspected non-accidental injuries may be required to supplement clinical notes and body diagrams, which should be completed in all cases by the examining clinician. Photographs may provide a record of injuries in the clinical notes and may be required for court purposes.
- Whenever possible, photographs of suspected non-accidental injuries should be obtained from the medical photography department at the earliest opportunity. Where possible, these should be taken under optimal conditions in a designated suite. Where this is not possible, photographs may be taken on a ward or in an outpatient department or other community settings. The examining clinician will need to specify details of what images are required. Ideally, the examining clinician will be present during the photography.
- In any statement or court report, the clinician should refer to any photographs taken and document what they show and how this relates to the clinical notes and body diagrams. If there are any discrepancies between the photographs and clinical notes or body diagrams, these should be described.
- Medical photography is available from the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW):
The Medical Photography Department,
Ground Floor Central
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Clifford Bridge Road
Walsgrave
Coventry
CV2 2DX
Tel - 02476 966310
Opening times:
09:00 - 5:00 Monday - Thursday
09:00 - 4:30 Friday
If this service is required from the Trusts other than UHCW, it can be obtained, in working hours, either through a Service Level Agreement or agreed ad hoc payment. - Out of hours the paediatrician should discuss with the senior investigating officer (police). If it is considered appropriate to obtain photographs out of hours, this should be done by a police photographer (scenes of crime officer (SOCO)/ forensic officer). The Medical Photography Department should be contacted the next working day to also take photographs.
- Health staff should never take photographs of suspected Non Accidental Injuries (NAI).
- Police officers, in the absence of SOCO, or as well as, may take photographs for a range of criminal investigation reasons. These photographs should not normally be presented as evidence and should always be supplemented by professional images obtained through medical photography or scenes of crime photography.
- Photographs of suspected non-accidental injuries should incorporate, where possible, a colour chart and appropriate 2 dimensional curvi-linear scales. They should be properly labelled with the child's identifying details and the date and time. All photographs should be mounted on the headed side of the mounting paper only, so that they are clearly labelled for filing in hospital records.
- Only original photographs and not photocopies should be used in court cases for evidential purposes. If requested by legal services, original photographs should be obtained from the medical photography department.
- These guidelines apply to photographs of suspected physical injuries. They do not apply to intimate images taken in the investigation of suspected child sexual abuse.
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