A parents' support group today condemned claims that complaints over medical evidence in child abuse cases have deterred doctors from working in child protection.
Penny Mellor, who runs Dare to Care, a support group for parents accused of child abuse, attacked doctors' leaders for linking the "virtual standstill" in the number of community paediatricians working in child protection to the furore about cases such as those of Sally Clark, Trupti Patel and Angela Cannings whose convictions for murdering their children were overturned.
Ms Mellor said the claim by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) was spurious because most of the complaints laid before the General Medical Council in this regard concerned two hospital-based paediatricians: David Southall and Sir Roy Meadow. Professor Southall has been banned from child protection work, while Professor Meadow's case has yet to be heard.
Her comments came after the annual workforce survey of the RCPCH showed that despite a 12.1% rise in the overall number of paediatricians in the UK - from 3,781 in 2001 to 4,239 in 2003 - the number working in the community rose by just 0.3%, from 1,544 to 1,549.
Ms Mellor accused the RCPCH president, Sir Alan Croft, of spinning the figures in order to protect Professor Meadow, a former president of the college.
Ms Mellor said: "He's just jumping on another bandwagon to put forward the same argument he's been making for 18 months. They're just protecting their ex-president. They need to get their house in order.
"The Royal College has yet to apologise for the miscarriages of justice that took place because of flawed evidence produced by its members."
In an informal poll during the recent annual meeting of the RCPCH, 60% of trainees said they would not be prepared to do child protection work.
The RCPCH has previously pointed out that child protection doctors have received death threats and hate mail, leading many to consider leaving the field.
Sir Alan was unavailable for comment. But earlier this month he told the Guardian that trainee doctors were being put off from pursuing child protection work as a result of seeing "leaders of the profession being pilloried in the press and discredited".
