NHS Warrington has declared it is not compliant with standards for child protection.

Board members heard at their monthly meeting on Wednesday that non-compliance didn’t necessarily mean children were at risk, but rather that there was no proof that certain procedures were in place.

“We are not saying we’ve got a big problem in child protection,” said Chrissie Cooke, director of patient safety, quality and governance.

“Since Baby P we have taken quite a robust view of our compliance and been very challenging with our staff about making sure they are complying with every single letter of the recommendations,” she said.

The main reason behind declaring non-compliance with the Expected Standards for Better Health checklist for child protection was because there was no named doctor in post for a large part of 2008/09.

A doctor was put in place before Christmas, but NHS Warrington bosses decided to declare they were not compliant with guidance rather than risk having their declaration challenged by the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare watchdog.

Miss Cooke also told board members that NHS Warrington would declare it is not compliant with emergency planning guidelines.

This is largely due to a flu pandemic plan that only conforms to 70 per cent of Department of Health guidelines.

It was inspected firstly in January, when it was only 30 per cent correct and changes were made.

GP surgeries are now all producing their own plans for a flu pandemic and they will be co-ordinated to ensure a central response, the board heard.

That plan should fully adhere to standards by the end of May.

The board also agreed to declare it did not meet a further five of the Standards for Better Health criteria: clinical audit; equality and diversity; records management and information governance; employment checks and safe and secure environment.

Those five were all declared not met for part of the year but are now resolved.

All NHS organisations must comply with the Standards for Better Health and complete an annual self-assessment.

There are 44 categories in the Standards for Better Health checklist .