Today, The UK Government has released its 10-Year Health Plan for England, outlining long-term priorities for improving health outcomes structured around three shifts: from a service treating sickness to one focused on prevention; from delivering care in hospitals to delivering it in communities and in primary care; and digital transformation.
Over the last eight months, the College has sought to make the case for children and the child health workforce as part of this plan. We developed policy briefings, convened a member workshop, engaged children and young people and submitted organisational responses.
Giving his initial reflections on the newly published plan, RCPCH President, Professor Steve Turner, said:
The 10-Year Health Plan makes a bold and welcome commitment to transforming the NHS into a more accessible, community-focused service, and offers a vital opportunity to reimagine how we deliver care to children and families. I’m really pleased to see the Plan emphasise prevention, early intervention, and integrated care. Embedding paediatric expertise within neighbourhood health teams, alongside mental health professionals, health visitors, and community workers, could be transformative for children – especially those with complex or long-term conditions.
Fundamentally, the success of this plan will also depend on sustained investment in the paediatric workforce. Children’s needs are unique, and these new models of care must be underpinned by adequate staffing, training, and support for professionals working in community settings, alongside equitable funding between children’s and adult’s services.
We must jointly seize the opportunity to transform child health, and as such RCPCH now look forward to working closely with government and NHS leaders to deliver a robust implementation plan for child health, and realise the government’s ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.
Over the coming days, the College will be analysing the full plan and setting out what it means for child health and the paediatric and wider child health workforce. In the meantime, you can read the full plan here.