Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group respond to Lord Darzi's report

Reacting to Lord Darzi's report on the state of the NHS, Amanda Allard and Matthew Dodd, Co-chairs of the Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group said:

"For many years the Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group has been deeply concerned by the shocking decline in children’s health services set out in Lord Darzi’s report. Health outcomes for children in England are woeful in relation to comparable countries, and outcomes for vulnerable children have been worsening as they fall further behind their peers. We welcome the spotlight that Lord Darzi has shone on this issue, and hope this signifies that the health needs of babies, children and young people will be a genuine priority for this new government.

"The findings confirm what we have known for too long, that a health system under strain was pushed beyond breaking point by the Covid pandemic, and now too many children are having to wait too long for the care they desperately need, both at home and in A&E. A system where waiting lists for children are growing at nearly double the rate for adults needs to fundamentally reconsider how it prioritises care.

"Children cannot afford to remain an afterthought in the development of national policy. We welcome the new government's ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever, but the scale of the challenge must not be underestimated. We must have leadership from the very top that prioritises childhood. The first step will be making babies, children and young people a central pillar of the forthcoming Ten Year Plan, followed by a greater and more equitable share of health service funding being allocated to children at the forthcoming Spending Review. Nothing less than this will do."

 

Amanda Allard & Matthew Dodd

Co-chairs of the Children and Young People's Health Policy Influencing Group