As the 2026 Holyrood election approaches, we urge political parties to focus on child health to protect our country’s future. Our manifesto, The Prescription for Change, has been shaped by paediatricians from across Scotland, following extensive consultation.
Our expert members work with children and young people every day and are best placed to understand what our system needs. Tackling waiting times, strengthening our workforce and improving access to health information are all key to support our services to deliver the healthiest start for our children and young people.
Why child health must be a priority
Lengthy waiting times for appointments mean that children and young people are stuck in limbo and are missing out on education, social and family life – all of which are crucial for them to develop into healthy and thriving adults.
While waiting, children and young people suffer irreversible harm at key developmental windows, meaning they will depend more on services in the long-term.
Waiting times are unacceptably long, with over a third waiting more than the 12 week target for outpatient appointments. Our mental health and neurodevelopmental services are facing an escalating crisis, with our patients bearing the brunt of waiting lists that are sometimes as long as ten years. 88% of young people feel there is not enough support for their mental health, yet funding remains well below target.
Urgent action is needed. Our government needs to invest in paediatrics, build universal services for mental health and neurodevelopment, and commit to statutory measures to increase CAMHS funding above 1% of NHS Scotland’s budget.
Our paediatric workforce is struggling
Currently more than five doctors apply for each training post in paediatrics, leaving unsuccessful applicants struggling to build their expertise via unstable employment opportunities. Despite this huge demand for posts, our resident doctor rotas are running with staffing gaps of over 20%. The doctors on these rotas are over-stretched to cover the shortfall while patient number continue to increase. Consultant headcount has risen only very modestly over the past five years, while SAS doctor numbers have fallen.
Unsurprisingly, rates of burnout are high among paediatric doctors of all grades, limiting our bandwidth to develop and improve services. The situation is similar within our paediatric nursing workforce, where workforce gaps are impacting frontline services every day, while new graduates struggle to find work.
All of this leaves one of society’s most vulnerable patient groups caught in the crossfire with unacceptable waits for emergency and routine care. We call on the government to expand paediatric training and consultant posts in line with service demands and to conduct a comprehensive review of the wider child health workforce.
Our patients and families often struggle to access high quality health information
This can make it really challenging to know what to do or which service to access when their child is unwell. The Healthier Together website and app could be made available across Scotland for only a modest investment, with huge benefits. This would provide high quality information to families to ensure children and young people access the care they need, while reducing unnecessary attendances to the Emergency Department and reducing waiting times.
We encourage the government to commission and promote Healthier Together to ensure families have access to trusted, accessible health information when they need it most.
Children’s health is a key building block for the future of our nation
It has often been seen as an afterthought by government – this approach harms the most vulnerable patients in our society. Conversely, a healthy childhood unlocks huge potential for adult life.
We call on the government to read our Prescription for Change and to invest in the future of Scotland’s children and the future of our nation.
Dr Lindsey McVey, RCPCH Trainee Representative