Media Release
For immediate release: Tuesday 7th February 2012
Children and young people
must have voice on health services
As the Health and Social Care Bill enters its final stages in
the House of Lords on 8 February, children and young people's
organisations have come together to urge Peers to make sure that
children and young people themselves have a voice in shaping the
health service.
15 organisations, including the National Children's Bureau
(NCB), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the
Participation Works partnership are backing amendments to the Bill
to make explicit that new local HealthWatch organisations and
HealthWatch England, which are being set up to give people a say on
their local health and social care services, must engage
specifically with children and young people and not just adults and
older people as they have done previously.
In a joint briefing the group highlights evidence of the
exclusion of children and young people's voices in the NHS,
including a report by NCB that found that Local Involvement
Networks, the immediate predecessors to local HealthWatch, did not
always understand that engaging with children was part of their
official remit, and when they did, the young people had limited
involvement in setting the organisation's agenda.
The group also calls on the government to take further proactive
steps to ensure children and young people's involvement,
including:
- Developing and disseminating guidance for Local HealthWatch
organisations on effective engagement with children, drawing on
pathfinders' experiences.
- Conducting a review into how HealthWatch England and Local
HealthWatch have involved children in their work, two years after
commencement.
- Appointing a champion for children within HealthWatch England
to oversee this work and to drive forward standards on children's
engagement in decision-making.
Zoe Renton, head of policy at NCB, said: 'Government must be
clear from the start that patient and public involvement in the
health services really includes children and young people. It needs
to be more than a nod in that direction, naming children and young
people is essential. National leadership and support for local
HealthWatch on this issue will be key to enabling children and
young people's views to be heard.'
The joint briefing on the amendments to the Bill is available
from:
www.ncb.org.uk/media/532275/joint_briefing_-_health_and_social_care_bill_report_final.pdf
ENDS
For further information please contact the NCB Media Office:
media@ncb.org.uk 0207 843 6045/7 or out of office hours 07721 097
033.
Notes to editors:
- The cross-sector briefing is supported by: Barnardo's, British
Association for Community Child Health (BACCH), The Children's
Society, Council for Disabled Children, CLIC Sargent, Early
Childhood Forum, Every Disabled Child Matters, Mencap, National
Children's Bureau, NHS Confederation, Participation Works
Partnership, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health,
Wellchild, The Who Cares Trust and YoungMinds.
- The National Children's Bureau (NCB)
The National Children's Bureau is a leading research and
development charity working to improve the lives of children and
young people, especially the most vulnerable. We work with
children, for children to reduce the impact of inequalities, by
influencing government policy, being the voice for 200,000
front-line professionals, and inspiring practical solutions on a
range of social issues including health, education and youth
justice, through our extensive research and evidence work. Every
year we reach more than 100,000 children and young people through
our membership scheme, links with voluntary, statutory and private
organisations, and the 30 specialist partnership programmes that
operate under our charitable status.