17 September 2004
Public service managers were this week challenged to put children's needs at the centre of their planning as the government published its blueprint for child-centred health and social care.
The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, published on September 15, sets out an ambitious ten-year strategy for health, education and social services, and requires accessible and age-appropriate services for children and young people.
Although the framework has to be in place by 2014, NHS trusts and local authorities will have the flexibility to decide how they go about implementing it.
Ministers are touting the framework as a world-first attempt to put an ambitious and complex package of measures in place that will deliver a 'step change' in the quality of children's services.
The extensive package of measures includes improved child mental health services and extended speech and language therapy, and promises to deliver more joined-up and accessible services.
There will be more co-location of services, with GPs and health visitors increasingly working in schools and children's centres.
Launching the NSF, health minister Stephen Ladyman said: 'The purpose of this document is to mainstream children's services into managers' thinking.'
He said there was adequate money in the system to support the framework but acknowledged it would take time to recruit and train the required specialist staff.
Professor Al Aynsley-Green, the national director for children's services, said the NSF was an attempt to 'engineer a cultural change' in the way children are thought of by services.
But he warned people not to expect an instant transformation, as the framework was an attempt to overturn decades of under-investment in children's services.
'Speaking as a paediatrician, this is the best chance for 50 years to make a change for children but it will work only if people at the front line grasp the opportunity as best they can,' he said.
Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, said the NSF represented a major programme of work for the health service. 'It will be important to ensure that the resources and workforce will be available to implement the changes and ensure these ambitious improvements are achieved,' he said.
'The NSF is a major step forward for maternity and children's services but significant issues about the future pattern of hospital services and shortages of key staff will also need to be addressed.'
PFsep2004
