Child Accident Prevention Trust

In 1977 the Medical Research Council's Medical Commission on Accident Prevention held a conference with Newcastle Department of Child Health on `Children, the environment and accidents'. The conference highlighted the need for a body specifically aimed at child accident prevention, and a steering group was set up to investigate the establishment of such a body. As a result, the Joint Committee on Childhood Accident Prevention was set up in 1979 for a trial period of 3 years, with a grant from the King's Fund. The Joint Committee aimed to initiate and coordinate research into childhood accidents and their prevention, bringing together people from the fields of health services, engineering, design, standards and education. At the end of the trial period the Joint Committee obtained charitable status and became the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), funded by the Department of Health and Social Security. Originally, CAPT had six Trustees, a Council of Management of 33 members, an Executive Committee of eight members and a small full-time staff with a paediatrician as part-time Medical Secretary. In 1988 the Executive Committee was replaced by a Professional Committee and a Management Committee. CAPT disseminates information in a variety of ways: working parties, made up of Trust members and co-opted experts, undertake research and produce reports for presentation at seminars; the Trust's resource centre provides an information and advisory service to those involved in child injury prevention; and CAPT cooperates with other bodies to produce publications such as books, factsheets and videos for both general and specialist consumption. For further details of CAPT's work see their website at http://www.capt.org.uk.