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 30 August 2008 14:32 BST

NHS "struggling" on children's services

Wednesday, 28 Feb 2007 08:32
Most PCTs are providing good or high quality care for children

Health In Focus 

The NHS is "struggling to meet the challenge" of providing high-quality care for children, the Healthcare Commission (HC) believes.

Publishing a report criticising the NHS for its provision of children's hospital services, the health watchdog notes that 71 per cent of primary care trusts scored good or excellent.

But it identifies a number of areas where the NHS "needs to do more" to improve worrying gaps in services.

Progress has been particularly poor in ensuring areas of play for children, with just 24 per cent of nurses formally trained in communicating with children.

Basic child protection training was also found wanting, with 58 per cent of services failing to meet the ideal standards for trained nurses.

Weaknesses were identified with potentially more serious outcomes; twelve per cent of trusts had insufficient cover during the day for life support in serious emergencies.

"Children have distinct needs, they are not merely little adults. It is crucial that staff coming into contact with children are appropriately trained and work with enough children every year to maintain their skills," HC chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said.

Opposition politicians jumped to criticise the government following today's report.

Conservative shadow health minister Tim Loughton said children's services were "playing catch-up" with their adult equivalents. He added: "The investment the government constantly tells us they have been making in childcare and children's centres is not being matched in the NHS and they need to explain why not urgently."

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Norman Lamb called the report "disappointing" and pointed to the NHS' financial state as being behind the current problems.

"Crippling deficits around the country mean that hospitals are not providing the right level of all-round care for children," he said.

The Department of Health responded to the report by pointing out that the government was only three years into its ten-year plan for improving children's hospital services.

"The vast majority of children are treated in child-only wards where the environment and the staff are focused on their needs… However, clearly we need to do more," a spokesperson said.

"As the HC recognises, reconfiguration may be necessary for some local services and we welcome the clarity brought to this debate by them and their evidence-based approach."
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