May 2023
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This conference discussed next steps for improving health outcomes for children and young people in England.
Delegates assessed the future of the new network of Family Hubs, with discussion on improving the coordination and accessibility of children’s care, as well as shifting focus towards early intervention and prevention, and improving the provision of support to families.
It was an opportunity to review progress on and next steps for The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days, which looks at providing support for local authorities in addressing the needs of children and their families, and considers the future of children’s health data.
Further sessions examined measures that were included in the Plan for Patients, which sets out to improve access to children’s mental health services, and enhance funding and regulation to reduce care backlogs.
Overall, areas for discussion included:
- Family Hubs:
- progress made so far in implementation - addressing challenges in the transition to the family hub service model
- the role of community support - delivering long-term improvements to the lives of families - improving engagement and communication with families
- utilising the Family Hubs to improve coordination across support services - developing and sharing best practice across local authorities
- impact of poverty and cost of living pressures:
- latest thinking on approaches to mitigating the impact of poverty on child development
- understanding the economic pressures on families - addressing the impact on children’s health
- implementing early intervention and prevention programmes - applying lessons learnt from the Surestart programme
- developing child health services:
- addressing waiting times and care backlogs - returning service provision to pre-pandemic levels
- next steps for regulation and funding - the role of integrated care systems in supporting local needs
- mental health support:
- developing the community-based offer for mental health support - enabling service coordination
- meeting the increased demand for services - evaluating resource allocation
- early years development: progress made following publication of the final Leadsom Review - acting on the recommendations - the future for health visiting and child development checks
- digital health and data sharing:
- opportunities and issues arising from the use and sharing of child health data - increasing the quality of NHS records to improve outcomes - faster identification of health and social concerns
- latest thinking on data sharing practices - evaluating digital security provisions
We are pleased to have been able to include keynote sessions with Naomi Eisenstadt, Chair, Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board; Dr Camilla Kingdon, President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health; Huma Haque, Evidence and Implementation Lead, National Centre for Family Hubs, Anna Freud Centre; and Alison Morton, Executive Director, Institute of Health Visiting.
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from the DfE; DHSC; HMPPS; Home Office; OHID; and ONS.
