Health Policy team

We aim to influence public policy at all levels to improve health outcomes for all infants, children and young people in the UK. We work with members and officers to develop evidence based policy and healthcare standards with clear asks and actions to influence key decision makers.

Our priorities:

Influence key research decision makers so that child health research, including the areas of health, wellbeing services and mortality, is given the same parity as adult health research.
Improve health outcomes through advocacy, empower children to be in control of their own health and wellbeing and putting children and their families at the heart of what happens
Reduce the number of children who become ill or whose illness progresses unnecessarily due avoidable factors.
Shape policy and practice in the NHS so that it provides high quality and sustainable healthcare services for all children regardless of the setting in which they receive it and to ensure long lasting improvements to services and systems to improve health outcomes for children.
Work in partnership with other organisations to implement early intervention strategies and reduce health inequalities for children.

Recent content

Document

State of Child Health 2026: Headline recommendations

Our 12 indicators provide a practical framework for current and future governments to track and measure progress on children’s health outcomes. We make three key recommendations: improve data, set national targets and invest in children’s health.

Health policy

Document

State of Child Health 2026: Early childhood development

This indicator assesses whether children have met the expected developmental outcomes as they enter primary school. It provides an indication of their overall health and wellbeing at a key milestone, and whether children have received access to the support they needed to ensure the best start in lif...

Infant health

Document

State of Child Health 2026: Infant mortality

Infant mortality is defined as the death of a child under the age of one year and is measured as deaths per 1,000 live births. This includes the neonatal (first 28 days) and post-neonatal (28 days to 1 year) periods.

Child and adolescent mortality

Health policy

Infant health

Resource

State of Child Health 2026: England - Quick read

State of Child Health 2026 provides a clear and comprehensive overview of children’s health across the UK, analysing progress against 12 key child health indicators. This quick read report summarises data and recommendations for England. Read on screen or download.

Health policy

Document

State of Child Health 2026: Substance misuse

This indicator analyses trends in drug and alcohol use among young people. However, there are current limitations to this indicator, as there is no shared, standardised measure of substance misuse prevalence across the nations.

Health policy

Alcohol

Document

Member briefing: The Supreme Court ruling on the public naming of clinicians involved in the care of critically ill children

RCPCH recommends that all NHS Trusts (as well as Boards and HSC Trusts) in the UK with a paediatric critical care department develop a clear policy on how they will support members of their clinical faculty if they are involved in legal proceedings regarding a child’s care. This page summarises the ...

Intensive care medicine

Ethics

Workforce

Resource

Transition from child to adult health services - consultation response

In May 2026, RCPCH responded to the UK Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee non-inquiry session (used to revisit previous inquiry topics or take evidence on a topical matter), ‘The transition from child to adult health and social care services’. This is conducting an evaluation – independen...

Health policy

Transition to adult

Resource

Online harms are impacting children in hospital clinics - evidence submission from paediatricians, children and young people

In May 2026, RCPCH responded to a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology call for evidence, Growing up in the online world: a national consultation. The evidence gathered will be considered by the UK government to help decide their next steps on introducing greater protections for childre...

Public affairs and campaigning

Wellbeing for children and young people

News

Should paediatric care extend to all children and young people at least until their 18th birthday?

29 May 2026

We posed this question earlier this month RCPCH Conference in a panel session chaired by Leonora Merry from the Nuffield Trust. There isn't a straightforward answer, but it is crucial that transition services ensure young people are not left without care, are developmentally appropriate and are co-p...

Volunteering opportunity

Paediatric Influencing Network

Open to all RCPCH members, at any career stage and location, this network offers a way to share experiences and insights that shape our policy, media and public affairs work and strengthen our influencing to UK-wide decision‑makers.