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
Services for children
including health serviceshave 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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