A movement for child health: where next?

The latest instalment of our State of Child Health campaign – our “Two years on scorecards” – puts the need for progress on key child health issues front and centre of the political agenda across all nations in the UK. We want to make sure we keep up momentum and make children a political priority, so what happens now?

We were joined by over one hundred people at events in each of the four parliaments and assemblies across the UK in late January, giving members and children and young people the chance to tell politicians exactly why child health matters.

Meanwhile, people up and down the country shared their priorities for child health with us on Twitter – showing clearly that there’s a real movement for child health that believes the time for action is now. It’s a movement that wants to work together, take action, champion the voice of children and deliver change – the themes of our four events.

The support shown by our members, by colleagues across the health sector and by political decision-makers is a brilliant testament to the commitment across society to work together to improve child health. Thank you to everyone who has got involved with our State of Child Health campaign so far. We can’t do this without you! Together, we really can make a difference for children and young people.

But our Two years on scorecards showed that there’s still a long way to go to make sure children and young people in the UK can access the support and services they need to live long, healthy and happy lives...

The time is now for different promises made to children and young people to be delivered and the time is now to get to the root of the problems that impact child health outcomes and inequalities.

The RCPCH will make sure we are actively involved in developing and delivering plans that are on the table, like the recently published Long Term Plan for NHS England; the UK Government’s consultations on childhood obesity; and, the NHS Workforce Implementation Plan, promised for later in the year. 

But the help of our members and supporters will be more important than ever to make sure our movement for child health delivers the results that children and young people deserve.

So how can you help?

  • You can email your MP now using this simple online form [now closed]. We want MPs to urge the Prime Minister to deliver a Children and Young People’s Health Strategy that joins action up across government. Help us to make 2019 the year this happens!
  • You can join the RCPCH Parliamentary Panel. Get in touch with public.affairs@rcpch.ac.uk if you want to join our growing group of members with a passion for politics. You’ll find out about parliamentary training opportunities, ways to get involved in our campaigning work and more!
  • You can share your priority for child health [currently closed]. If you’ve not shared your photo like those in our collage above, now is your chance!