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Collaborative healthcare in England: Delivering the services children need in the community

Health Policy team
RCPCH has long called for a greater focus on and investment in children’s community health services, which support some of our most vulnerable children and their families. The latest available data covering March 2025 shows that more than 314,000 children and young people are waiting for community health services, and wait times are getting worse. We outline the evidence and its impact, and call for action on data, workforce, collaborative healthcare, transition to adult services and neurodevelopmental services.
Repeated icons of 'dynamic child'

In England, there is inequity between children and young people’s and adult’s community health services. Paediatric services are not recovering at the same rates as adult services, and there is a growing gap between demand and capacity.

While researching for this report, we sought to gain a holistic picture of service pressures across community child health services in England. Data in this report is based on the May 2025 data release from NHS England (through the Community Health Services (CHS) SitRep), which reports monthly on Community Health Services Waiting Lists. It also draws from various other reports, including the Children’s Commissioner for England report, which has highlighted the long waiting times for assessment and support for autism, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

It is unacceptable that these services are lagging so far behind both the rest of the health system and adult community services. There is a need for urgent investment and a clear message to ICSs to prioritise community child health services.

Dr Ronny Cheung, RCPCH Officer for Health Services

In parallel with the rest of the UK, this report highlights and details five key thematic areas in need of urgent attention to see improvement in child health outcomes:

  1. The urgent need for data
  2. Creating a sustainable child health workforce 
  3. Collaborative care
  4. Positive transitions to adult services
  5. Neurodevelopmental services

You can read about each of these recommendations, plus the voice of children and young people in England, in our full report. View below or download from the bottom of this page.