The government has been urged to increase funding for health visiting and school nursing amid concerns children and young people are at risk of becoming a ‘forgotten generation’.
A new report from NHS Providers this week revealed that 90% of NHS trusts believe children’s health and wellbeing is not a high enough national priority, with only 16% of trusts ‘keeping up with demand’ within children and young people’s services.
Further findings showed 75% of trusts felt unable to meet anticipated demand in the next 12-18 months and 86% were concerned about the impact on staff morale of challenges around providing care to young people.
NHS Providers, which represents acute and foundation trusts, has called for a ‘cross-government plan’ to improve the wellbeing of children and young people, urging for more investment in early intervention and ill-health prevention.
Importantly, it stressed that the government should ‘increase the public health grant’ given to local authorities to restore key services such as health visiting and school nursing.
Patricia Marquis, executive director of the Royal College of Nursing England, highlighted the ‘steep fall’ in health visitor and school nurse numbers and warned this meant ‘those that need assessments and care in the community are facing long waits’.
She said the situation required ‘urgent intervention’ and supported the report’s call for increased funding for these services.
Meanwhile, chief executive of the School and Public Health Nurses Association Sharon White said school nurses were being ‘inappropriately left to “hold” distressed and unwell children’ and that ‘urgent reinvestment’ was needed in the profession.
Recent data from nursing bodies suggested there has been a 33% fall in the number of school nurses across England since 2009.
According to NHS Providers, some 86% of NHS trusts warned waiting times for initial assessments among children had increased compared to pre-pandemic and almost all (97%) said demand for children and young people’s services had increased since the Covid-19 outbreak.
Wait times for essential services including health visiting, speech and language therapy, hearing tests and neurodevelopmental services (such as autism and ADHD) were listed amongst the areas adding to the ‘stress and anxiety’ of patients, families, carers and NHS staff.
One trust reported that waiting times for children’s autism assessments had increased from around 14 months pre-pandemic to 38 months now.
The findings are based on a survey of 134 trust leaders, carried out from April to May 2024.
Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: ‘We’re in danger of seeing a forgotten generation of young people. Too many young lives are being blighted by delays to accessing vital NHS care.
‘Long waits for services have far-reaching implications for a child’s social development, school readiness and educational attainment. Preventing ill health among children and young people is central to ensuring the next generation are able to live well, thrive and contribute to society and the economy.’
He called for a ‘cast-iron commitment’ from the new government and NHS England to prioritise children and young people’s physical and mental health, and to provide ‘the right amount and mix of NHS staff to give them the care they need’.
Sir Julian added: ‘For too long children and young people’s services haven’t been given the right level of focus.’
Responding to the report a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the care they deserve, and we know that waits for services are far too long. We are determined to change that.
‘The government is committed to giving children a healthy, happy start to life, and giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health.
‘We will provide specialist mental health support in every school and walk-in mental health hubs in every community.’
Earlier this year, the QNI, College of Medicine and the School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) teamed up to campaign for ‘a nurse in every school.’
The QNI has since outlined its ‘five priorities’ for the new government, urging ministers to ‘recognise’ the role played by public health nurses, health visitors and occupational health nurses and others, ‘to make a healthier society’.
Labour has pledged to impose limits on junk food advertising aimed at children, and also committed to enforce a ‘wide range of physical activities’ as part of the new national curriculum as part of its child health action plan.
The new government has also said it will introduce specialist mental health support for children and young people in every school and establish ‘Young Futures hubs’ in every community to provide children with preventative mental health support.
