New Age for young children's health

One-third of babies born today will live to be 100, but there is still a significant gap between the health outcomes of those born into poverty and their more advantaged peers. Last month, the responsibility for commissioning public health services for nought to five-year-olds passed from NHS England to local authorities, and the government hopes councils will be in a better position to close that gap, with services targeted to the needs of their population.

Local authorities have been commissioning public health services for older children, including school nursing services, since April 2013. But the 0-5 services were held back, because the government did not want to derail its commitment to recruit an extra 4,200 health visitors by 2015, a target that was only narrowly missed. Despite the delay, councils are now in charge of a raft of initiatives, including universal services such as the health checks associated with the 0-5 Healthy Child Programme, and more targeted, non-mandatory programmes such as the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP), which works with first-time teenage mothers and their children.