The Child Death Overview Panel that is based within the University of Bristol is responsible for the administration of the Child Death Review process on behalf of seven Local Safeguarding Children Boards:

• Bath and North East Somerset (BANES)
• Bristol
• Gloucestershire
• North Somerset
• South Gloucestershire
• Swindon
• Wiltshire

The overall purpose of the child death review process is to understand how and why children die, to put in place interventions to protect other children and to prevent future deaths. It is intended that these processes will:

• Document and accurately establish causation of death in each individual child
• Identify patterns of death in a community so that preventable factors can be recognised and reduced
• Contribute to improved multi-professional collection of medical, social and forensic evidence in the small proportion of deaths where there has been maltreatment or neglect
• Ensure appropriate family and bereavement support is in place
• Identify learning points for service provision, which relate to care of the child.
  

Further information about the wider process can be found in the Government's Working Together guidance.