TOP TIPS for themed CDOP meetings

Support for local and regional themed CDOP meetings

Local and regional themed CDOP meetings can support greater learning and promote the sharing of best practice, particularly around a particular topic. But practice across the country varies. For our top tips for running both local and regional CDOP meetings, see below:

Local themed CDOP meetings

This is the same as a normal CDOP meeting. It involves one CDOP and one type of case only is discussed e.g. neonatal deaths.

• Specialist expertise such as midwifery, obstetric and neonatology colleagues may be included along with the normal panel membership.
• Consider involving the Clinical Leads for your Neonatal ODN in neonatal themed meetings.
• The frequency of local themed meetings will depend on the number of cases you have. Consider allocating a number of your CDOP meetings each year to discussing themes.
• An analysis form should be completed for each case in the usual way and submitted to NCMD.

Regional themed CDOP meetings

This is where a group of CDOPs meet collectively and review cases of one type over a larger area. They are typically held once per year and the topic would be something where the number of deaths in each individual CDOP is too small to hold a local themed meeting.

• Agree locally, which CDOPs want to be involved and which members from each CDOP will attend the themed meeting. 
• When deciding on who will attend, consider keeping the number of attendees to a manageable level but including both subject expertise and regional representation.
• Consider establishing Terms of Reference for your regional panel.
• Consider providing an induction sheet to subject experts who may not have attended a CDOP meeting before to help them understand their role.
• Each CDOP should suggest cases from their area that they would like to bring to the review. These should be cases that have not previously been reviewed by a CDOP.
• The Designated Doctors should agree between them on the final list of cases to be discussed. This should be based on those cases that can most benefit from a regional review.
• At the meeting, cases should be discussed as normal and an analysis form completed for each.
• Following the meeting, each individual CDOP is responsible for finalising the analysis forms for their cases and submitting them to NCMD.