Minister urges action to improve child health outcomes

The Better Health Outcomes for Children and Young People Pledge sets out overarching targets to improve the health of all children and young people for agencies involved in their health and care.

Launched earlier this year, it puts particular emphasis on the need to improve the wellbeing of groups of children and young people that have the worst health outcomes, such as looked-after children, those with disabilities and young offenders.

Poulter has now written to lead members for children’s services and chairs of health and wellbeing boards (HWBs) inviting them to sign up to the pledge to “demonstrate a commitment to giving children the best start in life”.

Local authorities took over public health responsibilities from the NHS for children aged five to 19 in April, and Poulter says that signing the pledge will start local conversations about how HWBs, councils and health agencies can work together to improve child health outcomes and tackle the “unacceptable variation in quality of care across the country”.

Poulter said: “We recognise that many local authorities are already doing important work to prioritise children’s health outcomes through integration and partnership working. If all local areas were as good as the best, together we could improve children and young people’s quality of life now, and their ability to live fulfilling lives as they move through childhood.”

The letter, co-signed by the Local Government Association, Council for Disabled Children and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, also highlights a range of examples of existing good practice involving councils and health agencies.

The pledge highlights five key aims, including reducing child deaths, improving the mental health of children and young people, providing better care for those with long-term conditions and disabilities, and supporting and protecting the most vulnerable.

It was a key recommendation of the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum Report, published last summer, and the minister has convened a new outcomes board, led by the chief medical officer, to oversee and scrutinise progress in acheiving the pledge's targets.

A new Children’s Health and Wellbeing Partnership – co-chaired by Jon Rouse, director general for social care, local government and care partnerships at the Department for Health, and Mark Rogers, children’s lead at the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives – has also been created to provide national leadership and work jointly on key priorities in the area.