One of the many pleasures of my job is being invited to join members, and to speak, at their events. In the last few weeks I have joined events organised by the British Association for Paediatric Nephrology and the London School of Paediatrics. As a guest warmly invited to these communities of paediatricians, a few things have struck me.
First, paediatricians are such nice and kind people: people asking how I am doing? (really well thanks), how is the job going? (challenging at times but really rewarding), how much time do you need to spend in London? (not as much as you think, typically four to five days a month). Second, in between sessions the mingling, chatting and networking has the feel of big family event. Third, there is a rather subtle passing of the baton of knowledge, experience and leadership as students and trainees (often stood next to a fantastic poster) are welcomed to the community by younger consultants and SAS doctors (stepping up) and less young senior clinicians handing over, but often still attending as part of their retirement plans.
The prize session at the end of the day is an important time to acknowledge contributors, and also to thank the organisers. Last, but by no means least, there is the educational opportunity - there are usually a few pearls of new information to be collected at each meeting, and reassurance that my practice is still on track and has not veered off course.
These events are crucial to us as lifelong learners, and also as individuals. If you have an opportunity to get involved in your specialty group and/or your local paediatric group please grab it; you will not regret it. Look forward to seeing many of you at the College Conference later this month!
#WDYCD4Y - What Does Your College Do for You: Spotlight on rare disease
By definition, rare diseases are uncommon when considered individually - but there are so many rare diseases that they are collectively very common. In fact, one in 17 children in the UK are affected by a rare disease at some point in their lives. As many of you will know, the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit (BPSU), on which RCPCH is a partner, runs surveillance of rare diseases in children across the UK. Rare Disease Day was on 28 February and BPSU shares an update on how the unit (with many of you) wants to raise awareness and advocate for more research into rare childhood conditions.
BPSU’s update also introduces our Rare Disease Hub, a new feature at this month’s RCPCH Conference. I think this is a really exciting part of the event’s programme. Through presentations and educational sessions within the exhibition, you’ll get up-to-date insights into early diagnosis, emerging therapies and holistic care strategies. So if you’re joining us in Glasgow, do stop by the Hub.
Postgraduate Medical Training review
NHS England launched a review of postgraduate medical training last week. The review will consider placement options, the flexibility of training, difficulties with rotas, control and autonomy in training, and the balance between developing specialist knowledge and gaining a broad range of skills. I hope this will prove to be an opportunity to improve training, retention, support for lifelong careers and tackle increasing burnout. Your College will be actively engaging with the review and we have set out 6 key principles we expect to see taken into account here.
Influencing the Children’s Wellbeing Bill
Our members working in child protection have shared how important it would be to remove the ‘reasonable punishment’ defense from the law in England and give every child equal protection from assault. It’s a change that has already been made in Scotland and Wales where colleagues have told us about the positive change to practice brought about by the legal change but still lacking in England and Northern Ireland. It has made it easier to have supportive, direct conversations with families in difficult moments.
That’s why we have been working closely with MPs and other organisations to secure an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would remove the ‘reasonable punishment’ defense from law in England. In Westminster this week, Professor Andrew Rowland, RCPCH Officer for Child Protection, spoke to MPs and encouraged them to support our campaign as the Bill continues its passage through parliament.
Plans for supervised toothbrushing
In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen a series of studies describing the terrible and unacceptable state of our children’s oral health. For us as paediatricians, the results are really no surprise, but it is hugely disappointing to see the inequality between those in the most and least deprived communities continue to widen. We’ve long called for action and so it is positive to hear the UK Government confirm the introduction of a national toothbrushing scheme for 3–5-year-olds in England. This alone won’t solve the problem, but it is a step in the right direction.
NHS Benchmarking data collection on community paediatrics
NHS England have commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to do a bespoke collection of data on community paediatrics. The aim is to provide a clearer picture of service provision, current activity levels, full extent of waits, and the workforce models. The College remains really concerned about the the waiting list for community child health services, which according to the latest data from December 2024 is currently almost 270,000. 48% of child waits for community health services are longer than 18 weeks; by comparison, 15% of adults wait this long, and we are continuing to call for urgent action to address this. You can email nhsbn.cypwait@nhs.net to make sure your trust is involved in this data collection. Please get involved!
Focus on Wales
One-year waits have increased by 20% for children in Wales since the publication of our Worried and Waiting report last spring. Our analysis s got coverage in Nation Cymru and local media, and the Conservatives also ran a press release on the back of the College’s response. Audit Wales recently published a report identifying workforce challenges in the NHS and calling for collective action last week. We welcomed the report and asked the Welsh Government to work with us to implement a long-term workforce plan.
In case you missed it... 10 Year Plan Insights: workshop in a box
Some of you joined our recent workshops in response to the UK Government's 'workshop in a box' engagement project, aimed at shaping the NHS 10 Year Plan in England. Members talked about the need to maintain free care at point of need and focus on wellbeing, and also to improve prevention, community outreach and primary care and services for children and young people. A second workshop with stakeholders from the paediatric research community explored both challenges and opportunities from a research perspective.
Of course, we need to share views from children and young people themselves. Our RCPCH &Us programme hosted more than 20 half-hour sessions and street outreach. We’ve shared all of these insights with Change NHS and you can take a look at the key findings alongside our suite of policy resources to support you as members of the NHS workforce to engage with the 10 Year Plan.
Ramadan Mubarak,
Steve
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