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.

Contact us on health.policy@rcpch.ac.uk

Recent content

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Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: inquiry - consultation response

In January 2018 the RCPCH responded to the Health and Education select committee’s request for an inquiry into this green paper. We had five key points on the scope and implementation of the proposals: supporting mental health care for all children; prevention and early intervention; building on wha...
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Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: green paper - consultation response

In February 2018 the RCPCH responded to this green paper by the Department for Health and the Department for Education. While we support the paper's ambition, we do not believe it is sufficiently ambitious to achieve the goals we outlined in our State of Child Health report. The green paper also mis...
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Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s - our summary

In July 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published their prevention green paper, building on the Secretary of State’s prevention vision that was announced in November 2018. The paper contains a number of proposals to tackle the causes of preventable ill health in the England. He...
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NHS pensions and UK tax legislation - summary

The College notes that tackling the issue of pension taxation is one of many steps required to alleviate growing workforce pressures within the NHS. This page sets out a short summary of the pension tax legislation and signposts to further resources.
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Children in need of help and protection - consultation response

In 2018 we responded to the Department for Education's call for evidence on the educational outcomes for children of help and protection. We highlighted the need for collaboration between schools, social care and paediatrics to ensure children’s needs are being met across all sectors.