Facing the Future - standards for ongoing health needs

A vision of how paediatric care can be delivered to provide a high-quality service that meets the needs of infants, children and young people with ongoing health needs.

Implementing the standards will:

  • Ensure prompt and correct diagnosis, with children seen in the right place, by the right person, at the right time. Local networks with improved communication between professionals should ensure children and families are supported to manage their own health with support as close to home as possible
  • Focus on improving the long term care and management to ensure care is planned and proactive - particularly with improving communication and education for both the child or young person and family and communication between professionals
  • Look more widely at connecting the whole system and improving patient experience
  • Include the voice of children and parents/carers in the planning, development and evaluation of services

The implementation plan sets out how the Colleges will implement and monitor the standards by:

  • Supporting and equipping members across the five Colleges with the information and skills to influence at a local level
  • Supporting services to implement the standards
  • Facilitating negotiations and discussions with key stakeholders at national policy levelEnsuring children and their families know the quality of care they can expect and their rights
  • Sharing the standards with commissioners and service planners

Authors: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Psychiatry


Update 2024: When these standards were published in 2017, we expected to undertake an audit in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an evaluation of the subsequent feasibility of this undertaking, we decided to postpone the audit work. We are now conducting a review and update of the full Facing the Future suite of standards, due for completion in 2025. Please note: while the standards themselves remain in place, due to the passage of time, some of the supporting material in the report may no longer be available.