From minus nine months -
How children’s services should be shaped from conception
News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 16 September 2010
A huge cultural
shift is required across health services in order to meet the
needs of children and young people and take the service from its
current ‘mediocre state’, according to Professor Sir Ian Kennedy’s
review published today.
The review, Getting it right for children and young people -
Overcoming cultural barriers in the NHS so as to meet their
needs, states that the single most important change in the
NHS will be able to make sure children’s health services are
prioritised, as highly as adult services are, from ‘minus nine
months’; the moment a child is conceived.
Welcoming Sir Ian’s report, Secretary of State for Health Andrew
Lansley today published an engagement document, Achieving
Equity and Excellence for Children. This sets out what the
recent White Paper will mean for children, and explores how the
challenges Sir Ian poses can be better tackled in future.
Professor Kennedy found that although there are some excellent
services from which others might learn, a large number are in need
of significant improvement. Standards of care across the country
were shown to vary, with some health services lacking
co-ordination and struggling to communicate effectively across the
complex array of organisations, units and teams.
Data collection, necessary for effective management of services,
is described as poor or non-existent in many areas of healthcare
for children and young people. The findings also call for a review
of how young patients are progressed from children’s to adult
care. Currently, under what Professor Kennedy describes as “a
phenomenon created by the system”, young patients are arbitrarily
moved from children’s services to adults services because they
turn 16 or 18, regardless of their needs.
The review recommends focus be given to getting policy right, for
GPs to be given additional paediatric training and for investment
to be shifted towards children and young people’s health services.
Other key recommendations of the review include:
· creation of a single point of responsibility for children’s
health and wellbeing, linked in to other public services used by
children, with an identified funding stream for their health and
healthcare. This will ensure a more unified and holistic approach
to their welfare and should be a Local Partnership;
· a shift of investment by the NHS, especially towards early
years and mental health, to improve lives in the long-term, as
well as improve cost effectiveness;
· a focus on prevention, early intervention and wider well-being
instead of the current model of treating illness and injury;
· responsibility for policy relating to children’s healthcare and
wider well-being be brought together; and
· the professionals caring for children should train together, to
a common curriculum. This will foster the mutual trust and
teamwork that are at the core of high quality services.
Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, said:
“As I’ve gathered evidence for this review, I have seen
enthusiasm, commitment and a real sense of duty in the health
service. I am grateful to all those who have helped me with their insights.
“Unfortunately, in assessing how the NHS meets the needs of
children and young people, I have found many barriers. They were
created, and operate, at a staggering number of levels, from
Whitehall right down to patients. These myriad systems can make
life impossible for the children, young people and their families
who desperately need the services that the NHS exists to provide.
“We must shift investment towards children and young people and
the staff who work tirelessly to help them. This has to happen
now, and be there from the moment a child is conceived.”
Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, commented:
“Sir Ian Kennedy’s review has revealed the true scale of the
issues facing the health service. It tells us important things
about the lack of effective, integrated and responsive services we
have inherited. Sir Ian reminds us just how important the start of
life is for children and young people’s future physical and mental development.
“In our new vision for the NHS, and in preparing for our public
health White Paper later this year, we are determined to provide
for children and young people as an essential and integral part of
delivering better health outcomes.
“We are today ensuring that, informed by Sir Ian's
report and in line with the new focus in the White Paper on
patient-centred care, we shape the future of children and young
people's services to meet their needs more effectively by
improving health outcomes to be amongst the best in the world,
through more devolved, locally integrated service provision.
“We welcome views on the action needed, locally and nationally to
make this vision a reality.”
Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS, said:
"I would like to thank Sir Ian for such a thorough
review. I commissioned this review as we can do more to meet the
needs of children and young people. Changing the whole culture of
the health service won't be easy, and it can't
be done without invaluable advice from the health professionals
and other experts, including voluntary groups and, of course,
families, who dedicate their lives to it. We can tackle the issues
head on, together."
A copy of the review can be found by visiting:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_119445
Notes to Editors
Professor Sir Ian Kennedy’s review, Getting it right for
children and young people - Overcoming cultural barriers in the
NHS so as to meet their needs, can be downloaded here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_119445The
Government’s White Paper Equity and Excellent: Liberating the NHS,
can be downloaded here: www.dh.gov.uk/liberatingthenhsThe
engagement document, Achieving Equity and Excellence for Children
can be downloaded here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_119449
For media enquiries, please contact the Department of Health
news desk on 020 7210 5221.Biographical information: Professor Sir
Ian Kennedy LLD is a lawyer who, for the past few decades, has
lectured and written on the law and the ethics of healthcare. He
was chairman of theHealthcare Commission from its inception in
2003 until its merger into the Care Quality Commission in 2009.He
is also Emeritus Professor of Health Law, Ethics and Policy at the
School of Public Policy, University College of London and Visiting
Professor at the London School of Economics. He is a former Dean
of the Law School (1986-96) at King’s College London and President
of the Centre of Medical Laws and Ethics, which he founded in
1978. He gave the Reith Lectures in 1980. He was a member of the
GMC for nine years and has been a member of the Medicines
Commission and the Department of Health’s advisory group on AIDS,
Chairman of the public inquiry (1998 – 2001) into paediatric
cardiac surgery at Bristol, a government inquiry (1997), into
xenotransplantation (the use of animal-to-human transplants), and
an inquiry (1998) that recommended changing the law relating to
quarantine for animals being brought into the UK from abroad. He
is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) (2002) and a Fellow of
both King’s College, London and University College, London. He was
awarded an Honorary DSc by the University of Glasgow in July 2003.
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General
Practitioners (2002), Royal College of Physicians (2003), Royal
College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2004), Royal College of
Anaesthetists (2004) and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
(2005). He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine by
the University of Birmingham (2006). He was Knighted for services
to medical law and bioethics in 2002. Professor Sir Ian Kennedy is
currently chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards
Authority.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk