Natarlie De Cinque: We Look For Patterns and Trends

Natalie De Cinque from the Ombudsman WA joined us to discuss child deaths and how the agency makes recommendations to public sector organisations to help prevent them. It’s a serious and important conversation—tune in to hear about the vital work they do.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we recently learned that wly Way has the worst
drownding statistics in the country and heading into summer. All
this week we are talking about the importance of knowing
how to swim and knowing CPR if possible. This morning,
Natalie de Sincwe from Ombardsman doubly Away is with us.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning Natalie, Good morning Lisa and Russell.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
So can you explain what Ombardsman w Away does.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yes, I can so. Obviously, every death of a child
or a young person is a tragedy and our office
is notified of the deaths of all children and young
people under the age of eighteen years in our state,
and we have an important role to review those deaths
to obviously identify any learnings where we can potentially make

(00:49):
recommendations to public sector agencies proving the way that they
keep our children safe. So when we look at those deaths,
we'll look for patterns and trends, identify fire opportunities for
improvements in public sector agency working with children and families
to keep them safe. And the Ombudsmen can make recommendations

(01:12):
and obviously when the Ombosman makes a recommendation will always
follow up to make sure that they're being implemented in
relation to those child deaths. Last year we received notifications sadly,
of one hundred and sixty one child debts. Four of
those were deaths by drowning, And over the sixteen years
that we've had this jurisdiction, we've been notified of seventy

(01:36):
seven child deaths by drowning. So obviously we're in a
position where we can really look at the platents and
trends across those debts and identify measures that can be
taken to keep children safe. You know, and certainly when
we look at child deaths, children can drown wherever there

(01:57):
is water, but certainly yard pools, our oceans, and our
rivers are predominantly in the places where our children drown,
and certainly, from our reviews, the measures that reduce the
risk of child drownings are obviously correct pool fencing in
backyard swimming pools, proper supervision of children around water, water

(02:22):
safety skills for children, and so obviously that's including learning
to swim, and if children have drowning incidents, obviously a
first aid response as soon as possible, including CPR is
really important.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yeah, So you obviously you have the job of assessing
the role of swim schools and local governments and school
general schools and different community programs in providing quality swim training.
What gaps in access or quality have you found in
your investigations. Are there any particular points that really jump
out at you that needed addressing.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
We certainly have the responsibility for investigating public sector authorities,
and that'll include local government authorities and public schools. At
this time, we look for patterns and trends in our investigations,
and we haven't at this time investigated swim programs, but

(03:20):
certainly when we look at the deaths that we review,
what we know is that children under the age of
five and children from fifteen to seventeen are our age
groups that are more likely to drown, and so that
under five age group often haven't had access to those

(03:41):
swimming programs because, as you would know, most of those
programs through the school system start at the age of five.
So that's where parental supervision and CPR become really important.
And for our older children, certainly sort of swimming in

(04:01):
the ocean and our rivers, it's really important that they
have water safety skills.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
You have extensive experience with the Ombudsman's office now and
a great background in child safety and wellbeing, would you
suggest that, I mean, I don't know if it's absolutely possible,
but would you suggest that it's a good idea If
anyone is going to become a parent, they perhaps should
have some CPR skills.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
I think that anyone in the community would promote that.
But certainly when we look at drowning depth that definitely
preventing a drowning incident is obviously a priority. But when
there is a drowning incident, early response is critical to

(04:49):
better outcome.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Because it must be heartbreaking to have, you know, to
deal in situations where it could have been perhaps avoided.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yes, certainly, we did a major investigation in twenty seventeen
and we looked at two thousand and six hundred and
two child drowning incidents that had occurred over a six
year period. Now, sadly there were thirty four child drowning
deaths in that group of children, but I think it's

(05:22):
important to remember that the majority in that two thousand,
six hundred and two group of children who were examined
did survive. So obviously an immediate first aid response and
CPR are critical to better outcomes for a drowning incident.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Yeah, because your office actually noted in that investigation, ninety
one percent of children who drowned were in a position
where CPR could have been commenced, you know, before the
emergency services arrived. So I guess that tells us a
lot about, you know, the critical nature of a bystander
having CPR training, whether it's a parent or a carer.
Pool supervisors.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Absolutely well, Natalie, I think that prevention is always better
than the cure. So we're really thank you for the
work that you do and thank you for joining us
this week.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Thank you for having me, Thank you