The Care Quality Commission says demand is rising as health-visitor and school-nurse numbers fall. A paediatrician warns that children’s conditions become more complex while they wait.
Some 80,000 children and young people in England have been waiting more than a year for a community health appointment, according to the Care Quality Commission’s annual state of care report, reported by the Guardian. That is almost 11 times the number of adults waiting that long, the report says.
The findings contrast with improvements in some adult National Health Service (NHS) waiting times. The report also records more appointments with family doctors and shorter waits for planned, non-emergency care. But it says children and young people are being hit hardest as demand rises and staff numbers fall.
Community health services support children outside hospital, including those with complex conditions, developmental disorders and needs related to protecting their safety, said Dr Ronny Cheung of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He said waits for adult community services had improved while children faced some of the longest waits in the NHS.
Cheung said children were struggling at school, families were being pushed to breaking point and conditions were becoming more complex while children waited for support.
As a paediatrician, I am sick of seeing children wait so long for support that they miss crucial opportunities to improve their health and development.
The commission said health-visitor and school-nurse numbers were continuing to decline despite growing demand. It also highlighted regional differences in children’s hospital admission rates for diabetes and asthma, alongside particularly high rates of tooth decay in some areas.
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Commission chair Julia Neuberger said some health and social care services were working well, but improvements were not keeping pace with demand. She called for a collective response to repair what she described as a fracturing system.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the findings showed the scale of the challenge the government inherited when elected in 2024. It pointed to the commission’s recognition of progress on waiting lists, cancer care and general practice, while acknowledging that patients and families expected faster improvements.
The department said the secretary of state had committed to go further to end the treatment of patients in corridors, transform support for mothers and children, and deliver a new national care service.
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