Irish doctors are concerned that children in families under increased stress due to Covid-19 are at risk of abuse, a consultant in paediatric emergency medicine has said. Dr Ciara Martin at Tallaght University Hospital in Dublin said training among medical staff in identifying signs of child abuse had been stepped up in the past month. She was responding to a new UK study that identifies a “surge in domestic child abuse during the coronavirus pandemic”. The report’s authors noted a “complex interplay between abuse, mental health, substance misuse and socio-economic factors”. “It’s undoubted that there will have been an increase in emotional abuse, and possibly physical abuse,” she said.

Source: The Irish Times July 03, 2020 06:45 UTC