Led by the Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health (RCPCH), the WRCCHC have created a briefing to highlight the roles of each profession, to celebrate innovation and showcase how their work in child health supports children’s health, happiness and life opportunities.
RCPCH Officer for Wales, Dr Nick Wilkinson, says
The scope of child health extends well beyond hospital settings. While this is widely understood within the field, it often surprises others to learn that healthcare professionals also provide essential care in community settings, schools, and even within the social justice system.
Working together and often innovatively our professions aim to give children the best chances in life, champion the UNCRC and deliver early intervention and timely care in an environment suitable for the child.
This briefing highlights the variety of professions and settings we work in and shows just why investing in the workforce could greatly benefit future generations and reduce demand on the NHS. In Wales we have a chance to do things different, we need to embrace this and invest in the child health workforce.
RCGP Cymru Wales Chair and WRRCHC Deputy Chair, Dr Rowena Christmas says:
Child health is the foundation of a healthier, more equitable Wales. A child’s early experiences shape their lifelong health, wellbeing, and opportunities. Yet across Wales, many children face significant adversity—rising mental health needs, entrenched poverty, and widening health inequalities. Addressing these early is both a moral duty and a smart, preventative strategy to reduce future demands on the NHS and social care.
Primary care serves as a key coordinator within multidisciplinary teams—bringing together health visitors, school nurses, paediatricians, mental health services, social care, and the third sector to deliver joined-up, person-centred care close to home.
We must invest in the workforce delivering child health across all sectors. RCGP Cymru Wales urges political, NHS, and system leaders to prioritise integrated working and targeted support for professionals, ensuring every child in Wales has the best start in life.
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, Head of Wales Office, Pippa Cotterill says:
A strong child health workforce is the foundation of a healthier Wales. Speech and language therapists have a key role to play, working together in multi-disciplinary teams with other child health professionals, in ensuring every child receives the right support, at the right time, to reach their full potential. For too long, child health has been low down on the list of priorities for health boards. We are proud to be working with other royal colleges as part of the Welsh Royal Colleges Child Health Collaborative to champion the voice of children and young people and ultimately improve services for future generations
Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Alka Ahuja says:
RCPsych Wales is proud to support the Welsh Royal Colleges Child Health Collaborative’s latest briefing, which highlights the crucial role played by the child health workforce – including child and adolescent psychiatrists – in improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people across Wales. We value being part of this collaborative group, which brings together a wide range of clinical expertise and professional perspectives. Its collective approach fosters shared learning, coordinated advocacy, and unified action – strengthening our ability to address the complex challenges facing child health and to drive meaningful, long-term improvements. We hope this briefing proves useful to decision-makers as they work to shape policies that support the health and futures of children and young people in Wales.