Roadmap for the Healthiest Generation of Children Ever
We are proud to be part of the The Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group (HPIG) a strong, independent voice advocating for improvements to the health of babies, children and young people.
Despite the government’s manifesto commitments to ‘the healthiest generation ever’ and ‘prevention first’ approach to health, a coalition of charities and Royal Colleges is warning that children risk becoming an afterthought in action to tackle waiting lists, with no clarity on how major new investment in the NHS will be spent on children’s health services. Children’s hospital waitlists have grown to a record high, at times growing at double the rate of the adult waiting times.
Our roadmap calls for children to be a central pillar of forthcoming health plans such as the NHS Ten Year Plan, with children advising directly on health policy that affects them. It calls for equitable funding for children, which was lacking in the recent Budget, in particular children with palliative care, long-term conditions, and special educational needs and disabilities, and it calls for Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to be made accountable for improving set child health outcomes. It is ambitious and yet clear that there are significant, impactful, low-cost steps that the government can take to shift the dial on child health and guarantee that children are not an afterthought when it comes to health policy.
HPIG is committed to working with the government, NHS England and ICSs to implement our roadmap and ensuring that improving child health and the services they rely on is a priority.
