We support each of the proposed shifts and highlighted some further foundational changes that need to be in place to ensure the NHS provides the care and support children and young people need.
Download the full responses below
RCPCH response
In our submission, we outline the current state of child health and child health services in England and specific policy ideas for change. We firmly believe that all of these policy recommendations should be prioritised in the 10 year plan to achieve the re-balancing of the health system that is needed to ensure sufficient focus on children and young people and reduce the current inequity that exists between children’s health services and adult care.
Download the full organisational response below for the detailed recommendations around the three shifts. Below we have highlighted overarching recommendations for the 10 year plan.
- In the short term
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- Make devolution to Integrated Care Systems work better for children
- Invest in health visiting and school nurses
- Expand prevention services, including removing barriers to vaccination uptake, ensuring all children are seen by a dentist by the age of 1 and proving a greater investment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
- Restore the public health grant
- Address the current long waits in children’s community health services
- Fully consider children and child health services in national plans to develop a digital health record, a key part of which is the digitisation of the red book.
- Prioritise the inclusion of all CYP, particularly underserved populations, in the shift to digital care.
- Use appropriate guidance for paediatric dosages, using the British National Formulary for Children (BNFC) standardised dose based on age
- In the medium term
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- Ensure fair funding for children through introducing a Children’s Health Investment Standard
- Prioritise children’s health in national plans through National prioritisation categories and risk frameworks must take into account the differential risks experienced by children and young people
- Prioritise a clean air future
- Apply a sustainability lens to prevention
- Develop a training framework on children’s health for all GPs
- Implement the NHS number as a Single Unique Identifier (SUI) for children
- Invest in improving the quality and accessibility of online health information and resources for families
- Invest in the community child health workforce
- Embed models of joint working between primary care and paediatric teams
- In the long term (5 years plus)
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- Ensure plans for neighbourhood health teams will work for children and young people, and safely meet their needs
- Support a sustainable child health workforce
RCPCH &Us response
Children and young people through RCPCH &Us are advocating for a child rights-based approach, as outlined by UNICEF, in the NHS 10 Year Plan process and in health services. This includes their involvement in decision-making individually and collectively (Article 12), access to the best health services (Article 24), and ensuring public sector services act in their best interests (Article 3).
In November 2024, RCPCH &Us engaged over 2,000 children and young people across England, aged 7 to 25, from diverse backgrounds. This engagement replicated the "Start Here / Your Experiences / Your Ideas" elements of the Change NHS Portal as well as reviewing ideas, comments and suggestions from wider RCPCH &Us activity.
The recommendations outlined in this response reflect the views of children and young people from the engagement activity.
- Children and young people’s rights to be respected and for them to be given equal access through a rights-based approach to engage with the Change NHS programme and the ongoing reform of the NHS
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- Children and young people make up 20.79% of the population in England. It is possible to engage with and get input from children and young people at scale and with under-represented groups by creating a rights-based engagement approach. Children and young people actively want to be engaged and share their views.
- Children and young people are passionate about the NHS, sharing thoughtful and creative ideas and want to support the transformation of the NHS over the next 10 years
- Equal access to good care that meets children and young people’s needs
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- This includes recommendations to enhance health equity though recognising the importance of cultural differences and access to healthcare, better healthcare in deprived areas, access to medical information and equal support.
- Health services that are easy and accessible to use
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- Health services should work around children and young people’s right to education and have a workforce that are confident and competent in supporting children and young people.
- Ensure that health services and environments are designed with children in mind so they are engaging and interactive for children and young people. Services must take an age-based approach, and consider the needs of children, as well as adolescents to ensure youth support.
- Ensure the 10 year plan captures children and young people’s health needs that fall outside the three shifts
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- Only 67% of children and young people agreed with the three proposed shifts, highlighting several gaps. Concerns were raised about the lack of focus on broader determinants of health, such as school visits and mental health care.
- Additionally, there was a noted lack of attention to inequalities affecting ethnic minorities and children and young people with disabilities.
RCPCH &Us is best placed to support duty bearers with further rights-based engagement with children and young people in a meaningful, robust, age and stage appropriate way. RCPCH &Us can deliver at scale with diverse children and young people.
Resources for members to get involved
We have developed a range of resources on this website about the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
We hope that these and our organisational response will encourage anyone working or with an interest in child health to make the case and ensure children and young people aren’t forgotten on the Change NHS Online Portal:
Our Health Policy team is here to help. Get in touch on health.policy@rcpch.ac.uk.