This summer RCPCH provided evidence to the Darzi Review, detailing the deteriorating situation for child health services and the child health workforce. In its evidence, the College urged Lord Darzi to specifically consider the needs of children and young people. RCPCH therefore welcomes the long overdue focus on children’s health and the workforce that serves them and calls for swift action to address the specific challenges identified in the review.
The Darzi Review findings show:
- The mental and physical health of children appears to have been deteriorating in recent years. Between 2001 and 2018 saw a 250 per cent increase in the prevalence of life limiting and life-threatening conditions in children and young people.
- Childhood vaccination rates in England have been declining since 2013-14 and are now below WHO target levels of uptake.
- 2.5 million children and young people in England are affected by excess weight or obesity, with 1.2 million living with obesity related complications.
- Children are waiting too long for treatment. Waiting lists for children are growing at faster rates than adults.
- Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds are regularly over 90 per cent occupancy with some units at 100 per cent.
- More children are attending A&E, but the emergency admission rate has not increased, suggesting that they could be cared for elsewhere.
RCPCH Officer for Health Services, Dr Ronny Cheung, said:
The findings of the Darzi Review confirm the concerns our members have been raising for years - our child health services are in crisis. Despite the best efforts of the child health workforce, chronic underinvestment and a lack of focus on children in health policy, has resulted in children in the UK having some of the worst health outcomes in Europe.
Our children are sicker than before, with rising rates of obesity, asthma, diabetes, worsening mental health and poor oral health. Children are waiting longer than adults to access healthcare, paediatric services have not recovered at the same rate as adult health services, and there is a growing gap between demand and capacity. Without urgent action, we will have a two-tier health system, where adult services continue to improve but children’s services are left behind.
We recently published a series of practical solutions to this ongoing crisis in child health. Our report, ‘Transforming child health services in England: a blueprint’ provides a pathway to recovery, and we stand ready to work with government ministers as they take forward plans for the NHS alongside action on the social determinants of health such as child poverty. We once again remind our government that investing in, and reforming paediatric services and workforce is fundamental to the future health and economic wellbeing of our country.