Children’s health: where is the money for Labour's big plans?
As part of its plans for an NHS fit for the future, the Labour government plans to create the healthiest generation ever by 2035. However, children’s nurses will know that the problems of lack of finance, poverty, growing mental health issues, lack of school attendance and long waiting lists will not be easily overcome
As part of its future NHS ambitions, the government plans to create the healthiest generation ever but children’s nurses know there are many problems to be overcome
You may know, although I didn’t until recently, that there is an ambitious plan by the Labour government to create the healthiest generation ever by 2035.
It is a worthy, but lofty, ambition that we all hope will be reached but you would have to be extremely optimistic to think that it will be.
The problems faced by today’s children and families are immense as children’s nurses on the frontline will be all too familiar with – including poverty, growing mental health issues like anxiety, lack of school attendance and long waiting lists for treatment. The top reason for children aged five to nine being admitted to hospital in England is extractions to remove rotten teeth.
There are some amazing initiatives around the country, but where are the finances for them?
On the day the ‘milkshake sugar’ tax was announced to help tackle another issue – rising obesity levels – nurses and other health and social care staff working with children attended an event, organised by the charities the King’s Fund and Barnardo’s, to discuss these issues and how they should be tackled.
‘When pressed, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting admitted paediatric and children and young people’s social care needs increased investment’
Neighbourhoods and villages were just some of the buzzwords being used. It is clear that there are some amazing initiatives going on around the country – from school readiness and improving respiratory health with cooperation between the NHS and councils on damp and mould in homes, to mental health initiatives aimed at ensuring more children and young people go to school, get qualifications and improve their life chances.
The will is there but what was emphasised throughout is that there is little money, or none, for new initiatives or for more staff. For example, England’s children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza told delegates that a survey by her office found that only one in five schools has a school nurse.
When pressed, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting admitted paediatric and children and young people’s social care needs increased investment. Let’s hope more money can be found to follow the good intentions.
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