Wherever you are in the world this morning you will be aware that there has been an election in the UK. Until recently the exit polls were unreliable, meaning that the anticipated result at bedtime had often changed substantially by the morning. But the predicted landslide did happen overnight, and there have been major changes to the political colours on the electoral map at Westminster. Congratulations to those who have won or retained a seat and commiserations to those who have lost theirs.
The Labour party manifesto made many commitments, including the following:
- A bold new ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history
- Patients with non-urgent health conditions should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral
- Develop a strategy to reduce child poverty
- Provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school
- Enable vaccinations for babies and children as part of health visits
- Introduce a supervised tooth-brushing scheme for three to five year olds, targeting the areas of highest need
- Ensure the next generation can never legally buy cigarettes and ban vapes from being branded and advertised
- Ban advertising junk food to children along with the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s
- Digitise the Red Book record of children’s health
- Improve data sharing across services, with a single unique identifier, to better support children and families
You can read more about these in Vice President for Policy Dr Mike McKean’s recent blog. Achieving these goals will require investment in the child health workforce. Our College looks forward to working with the incoming government and helping them to deliver on their promises.
A highlight for me in this democratic process is seeing Dr Hilary Cass’s name among the dissolution peerages. Hilary is a member of our College and former president. Her tireless and brave work as a leader will transform the care for many thousands of children and young people. Very well-deserved, Hilary.
#WDYCD4Y What does your College do for you?
This week I want to shine a spotlight on College webinars! They are a great way to continue learning, hear from senior leaders and get the latest updates in an informal way. Coming up on 9 July and in response to the rising number of cases around the country, we have a whooping cough (pertussis) webinar where you can hear the latest on vaccination, current uptake and modelling, key clinical features from the illness and the history. There will also be an opportunity for a Q&A with the presenters.
We also publish past webinars. In case you missed it, you can watch a recording of our popular webinar on air pollution and its profound impact on child health. Led by Dr Helena Clements, RCPCH Officer for Climate Change, she speaks to Dr Camilla Kingdon – who post-Presidency is now Chair of the Healthy Air Coalition – about how paediatricians can be advocates for clean air. Backdated webinars are available online - and there’s so much available, please do have a look!
We welcome game changing RSV vaccination following campaign
We’re delighted that the calls of thousands of paediatricians and health professionals for a much-needed RSV programme have been heard. Governments in England, Scotland and Wales have announced a rollout of the maternal RSV vaccine, a year on from JCVI advice. Scotland’s roll out begins on 1 August and England’s on 1 September. We await dates in Wales and news from Northern Ireland. We will now engage with various bodies to see how they are going to roll this out, including public engagement plans. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who supported this work, together – we’ve made a difference.
Respond to our vaccination survey
While we’re on the subject of vaccinations, we are undertaking a programme of work into the declining levels of childhood vaccinations - specifically looking at immunisation access, uptake and equity for families in the UK. As part of this work, the project team is exploring the barriers that may prevent families from getting their babies / children vaccinated. Understanding these barriers is critical to ensuring appropriate and effective public health communication and engagement. Please respond to our short five minute survey – we’d be hugely grateful for your views. If you would like more information on the work, please see our web page on the project.
Education supervisors – we want to hear from you!
Progress+ was launched back in August 2023 and we can’t believe that our first birthday is coming up so fast! There have been some changes that have been made over the past few months, particularly on the updated Multisource Feedback (MSF+), which we would really like to hear from you about. Please take our survey and share your thoughts and experiences! It is open until Saturday 20 July.
Best wishes all round,
Steve
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