New child health tsar promises shake-up of services

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http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7308/302/a

 

BMJ 2001;323:302 ( 11 August )

News

New child health tsar promises shake-up of services

Caroline White, London

Services for children---including health services---have been poorly coordinated and fragmented, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, the newly appointed national director for children's healthcare services in England, has said in his first public briefing since his appointment last month.

He was setting out his plans for a national service framework for children, which he described as "the most important opportunity for change in years."

"The lottery in care for children's services must now end," he said, adding: "The size of the task is enormous. It's a huge challenge."

The national service framework for children will encompass health, social care, education, and the environment and will be combined with streamlined and radical new ways of working that are child and family centred. It will be underpinned by the work of the Children's Taskforce, set up last year to drive forward the aspects of the NHS Plan relating to children.

Key to the development of the strategy, Professor Aynsley-Green said, would be the involvement of children and their parents and the recognition that services must be integrated and responsive to the different ages of a child, from pregnancy and childbirth through to adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Each of these stages had very specialised needs. He promised a review of maternity services and an overhaul of working practice that would "challenge current roles" and produce "big cultural changes."

The framework is due to be published within the next two to three years, and is likely to be issued in modules.

© BMJ 2001
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