Interview: The catalyst for change - Professor Al Aynsley-Green, national clinical director for children

And the national clinical director for children believes that professionals, working within and outside of health services, will be more than keen to help his baby grow.

"From my tours around the country I've met almost every species of staff in every setting. They care about children and want to do the best they can. They have been constrained, I think, by the system in which they operate."

He doesn't underestimate the task ahead in getting services to work more closely together. But he says that, through setting a series of standards, the NSF sets out clear expectations for staff.

He says: "What we'd like people to do now is to sit down and read it and say 'what's good in here? How well am I doing this?' and then talk to colleagues down the road about what they are doing well, what they may not know about, and how we can start sharing best practice and using this framework as a template for action."