This year’s plan has some key additions for children and young people, including:
- goals to see more children within 4 hours, resulting in thousands of children receiving more timely care than in 2024/25
- working with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to develop a plan to strengthen the childhood vaccination offer. Increasing vaccine uptake among children is one of the most impactful interventions, with every thousand childhood vaccinations saving around 4 hospital admissions
- encouraging ICBs to commission means of local advice and guidance (such as Healthier Together) so parents can navigate their local systems and care provisions more effectively
RCPCH President, Professor Steve Turner, said:
Children suffer when paediatric emergency care is rapidly overwhelmed during peak periods. New commitments to ensure more children are seen within 4 hours are vital. As are those to boost vaccination and improve online information for worried families.
As a paediatrician, I’m encouraged to see that this plan prioritises children’s health services — too often, when children and their health services are not explicitly mentioned in plans, policies, or strategies, they are forgotten entirely. We hope the forthcoming Spending Review continues this welcome trend by committing to fair funding for our overstretched child health services. Looking to the NHS 10 Year Plan and beyond, we must see detailed plans to support the child health workforce to deliver the ambitious service transformation that’s required to care for the next generation.