LGA responds to State of Child Health 2020 report

4 Mar 2020 02:40 PM

A Local Government Association spokesperson, responded to the publication of State of Child Health 2020 by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 

“Councils want to work with government to ensure children get the very best start in life.

“The Government’s announcement of a real-terms increase in public health funding this year will help, but this report reinforces our call for long-term investment in councils’ public health and early intervention services if we are to protect children’s health, and reaffirms the widening health inequalities we are seeing across the country.

“Councils know their communities best and are committed to improving their health. Through their services, councils help people live longer and in greater health, in better conditions while improving their emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

“We have long argued that previous reductions to the public health grant have been a false economy, which only compound acute pressures for NHS and social care services further down the line

“We also back the report’s call for reinvestment in the children’s health workforce. We would like to see a workforce strategy which in addition to ensuring we have a sufficient supply of specialist public health nurses, recognises the benefits of having a diverse range of health visiting, school nursing, children’s centre and other early years staff in children’s and health services.”

Notes

Public health funding grants to councils have been reduced by £700 million in real terms from 2015/16 to 2019/20.

State of Child Health in the UK