Our Work
How We Work
One of the big problems we face is how to retain an understanding of what we need to do – what we need to embrace and understand in a world clogged with information, data and reports. So many of us barely know they exist, let alone really engage with these resources.
We aim to bring you a deep reading of the current landscape across several key agendas. We aim to bring simplicity, clarity, and synthesis while maintaining the appropriate nuance to navigate CDR. We aim to help you understand what you really need to know in a way you can understand, assimilate, and share with your local system and partners.
Company Profile and Policies
Dan Devitt Consultancy Services Ltd. (DDCS)
DDCS was established in 2024 as a standalone independent Public Health consultancy organisation specialising in delivering task and finish senior strategic support. Established by Dan Devitt, an expert in Child Death Review processes - who has a track record encompassing over 20 years of public health service management, development, commissioning and delivery, DDCS aims to offer affordable and scalable public health support solution to NHS and Local Authority organisations requiring additional expertise across a number of high priority areas.
We are dedicated, compassionate and tenacious professionals from a range of working and educational backgrounds. Our differences are our strengths, grounding us in multi-disciplinarity and various critical approaches to improving CDR, ensuring a holistic practice in our work. You can read more about our team here.
DDCS has a strong record of success across a wide range of service areas including a wealth of Children and Young People’s health and care support. Available expertise includes Subject Matter Expertise across a number of Public Health priority programmes, including:
■ Children and Young People’s services, the Healthy Child programme, and wider Lifecourse Health Improvement approaches
■ Child Death Review (national subject matter expertise)
■ Learning Disability Mortality Review
■ Special Educational Needs and Disability Quality Improvement
■ Public Mental Health and Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention
■ Creative Health Strategic Development
■ Public Sector Service Reviews and Support
■ Complex Adaptive System Transformation and Co-Production
■ Safeguarding Adults and Children and Young People
■ Health Inequalities and Health Equity
■ Cultural Competence, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work
Given the time and resources constraints inherent to modern health and social care systems, DDCS is well-placed and experienced in the delivery of high-quality sustainable, affordable and effective consultancy support in complex, challenging fast moving and nuanced health, care and political settings.
You can find our key policies through the links below:
Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy
Deprivation of Liberty Standards Policy
What We Do
At DDCS, we work to:
- Spread awareness of CDR and reduce systemic health inequalities in our local communities.
- Offer support and expertise to ensure that local health, social care, and education partnerships understand how they can better meet the needs of babies, children, young people, and their parents, carers and families.
- Improve data-sharing between CDR partners, services and organisations.
- Listen to healthcare professional's, parent’s, carer’s, and families’ concerns, working towards a constructive and co-creative CDR workplace.
- Help healthcare professionals and systems adapt for CDR compliance and innovation; focusing on assurance, accountability, impact and sustainability of current CDR practices.
Our Services
- Professional Training
- Educational Resources (webinars, videos, podcasts, briefings and summaries, publications)
- Investigative Work and Research (Rapid Reviews and Deep Dive Reviews)
Our investigations are multi-layered. They can include:
- Holistic data analysis, where we provide a comprehensive collection of local, regional, national data and our own data collection.
- Personalised and localised data capture through our own independent surveys, and interviews, generating unique quantitative and qualitative data.
- Multifocal recommendations tailored to each service while also targeting the local, regional, and national CDR system.
- Delivery plans to facilitate the implementation of service improvements in CDR.
Our investigative work is aligned with the delivery of CDR arrangements, statutory guidance (such as the Kennedy Guidelines, Working Together) and government reports (such as the Wood Reviews, the Marmot Review, the Darzi Report, the Thirlwall Inquiry, the Kirkup Report, and the East Kent Investigation).
Our Experience
As an independent public health consultancy service, DDCS has had a consistent presence at CDRMs, CDOPs and local CDR operational meetings across England. We have insightful knowledge of and experience in working with a broad range of CDR professionals at different levels of seniority. Our track record encompasses over two decades of working on Pan-London and National Child Death Review processes, public health service management, development, commissioning and delivery. We have an established practice of working alongside NHS clinical services, Social Care, Police, and Coronial colleagues in developing and supporting local Child Death Review systems, Child Death Overview Panels, and local area Safeguarding Boards.
Our work ranges across different health agendas within CDR.
Most recently, DDCS completed a programme of work for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in Wales, focusing on Public Health Strategy, Child Death Review and other priority workstreams. Earlier this year, we were also commissioned to make the Omnibus Annual Report, Rapid Review and Deep Dive Review for Kent and Medway CDR System.
Our director, Dan Devitt, is a Trustee of The Lullaby Trust and is the Chair of the Services Committee.
His written research and policy work includes:
Learning-disability-mortality-review-programme (HQIP LeDeR 2015)
A London Suicide Prevention Model (London Councils 2018)
Statutory guidance for Child Death Review HM Gov 2018
Gathering feedback from families and carers when a child or young person dies (HLP 2019)
The Impact of Covid 19 on London’s Children and Young People PHE 2021
Consanguinity-in-CDRM and-CDOP-reviews NCMD 2023
East Sussex County Council Creative Health Position Paper 2023
