You can download our 'Voice of the Nation' reports at the bottom of this page. You'll find our:
- colourful executive summary
- plain text report, and
- data reports
We are 25% of the population and 100% of the future
Welcome to our page! We are RCPCH &Us Volunteers: Aiden, Bryn, Demi, Hanin, Hrutika, Prayksha, Natalia, Niamh and Sohan and we have been looking at the results from 3000 children and young people across the UK who have told us what matters to them in the last year.
We volunteer our time along with 1000s of others across the UK, to help improve health services, health care and children and young people’s health. Why? Because we matter, our voices count and we have a right to have access to good health services and support to be healthy, happy and well.
We hope that you can use the information in the reports, the associated consultation responses and highlights below to make a difference for children and young people in your work, community and life.
Our priorities
From looking at all the responses, the following four areas really stood out to us as being important for services and workers to focus on. The areas are:
- Voice and rights
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89% of children and young people said they want to be involved in sharing their ideas to improve the NHS. 85% wanted to help with training doctors and healthcare workers, with 95% saying doctors and healthcare workers should receive training on understanding children rights in health. Ensuring health services include children and young people, will help to make them better for the people using it.
- Help to be healthy, happy and well
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Having access to help before things become a big problem, more health education and support to live a healthy lifestyle is important to children and young people. 80% want this to be done together with health, education and in the community so there is help outside of the clinic too. Being able to meet other children and young people with the same experiences is a big help!
- Accessing healthcare
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95% of children and young people wanted to make sure there was equal access to good care for all, no matter what your background. 94% said that we should speed up getting treatment and being able to see someone who can help. 92% of children and young people wanted health services to be easier to find, understand and use.
- The way healthcare is provided
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Being able to see the same doctors, having consistent care and help for mental health as well as your physical health was seen as being important. Getting involved in training doctors and healthcare workers, and creating safe spaces to speak directly to children and young people, trusting them and their lived experience, will help to create the best possible healthcare workers and support services for children and young people.
How you can help
We've created a poster below that you can put up at work, or take to your health appointments to help start conversations about improve health experiences, care and services together. We'd love you to:
• make sure children and young people’s needs and wishes are remembered in the planning of health services
• actively promote and embed children’s rights (UNCRC) in health services
• speak up for what matters for children and young people by using this report.
We are here to help you with all of this! We have got resources to support your engagement in clinic or to help develop your skills, learning opportunities for the child health workforce through the Engagement Academy and you can always get in touch to have a chat with our team by emailing and_us@rcpch.ac.uk
Looking for more data?
We have been sharing what matters to children and young people to NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care. Take a look at the RCPCH &Us responses to:
- The Medical Training Review: 545 children and young people in England
- The 10-Year Plan: including our organisation response and insights from workshops in England
- Coming soon: results from the nations
In addition to the summary reports above, we have detailed data packs. To enquire about how to access these, please contact and_us@rcpch.ac.uk.
And finally...it's our 10th birthday!
RCPCH &Us starting in 2015 and since then, over 16,000 children and young people have shared their time to help improve child health services, experiences and policy across the UK. Celebrations started at the RCPCH Conference in Glasgow in 2025 and will run until the RCPCH Conference in Birmingham in 2026. You can get involved by Celebrating 10 years of RCPCH &Us by sharing your stories, hope and wishes, or using our 10 wishes for child health in your work. Join the #AndUs10 party!