The future of child health services: new models of care

"Different services and models of care for children and young people have been emerging around the UK, both within the Vanguard scheme and inspired by it. These models are emerging in response to a series of problems in current services for children and young people. This briefing describes the current state of child health and quality of care in the UK and how the emerging models are responding to these issues."

The future of child health services: new models of care
L Kossarova, D Devakumar, N Edwards
Nuffield Trust
February 2016

Read more here.

Facing the Future Together for Child Health

"Facing the Future: Together for Child Health represents a standard of care which children and their parents and carers can expect from the healthcare professionals looking after them. We hope that healthcare professionals will see them not just as standards to strive toward, but as a lever to continue to improve the safety, quality and sustainability of services." 

Facing the Future Together for Child Health
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Nursing
April 2015

Read more here.

Commissioning a good child health service

"Good commissioning – or planning – is the key and this guide will help you commission the right services for your patients. It will help you meet their current and future needs in the most effective and cost-effective way possible."

Commissioning a good child health service
Clinical Innovation and Research Centre
Royal College of General Practitioners
March 2013

Read more here.

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU

"This brief discusses some of the reasons why decisionmakers in the field of child policy in the EU may wish to employ evidence-based resources to support decisions."

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU
RAND Europe
August 2013

Read more here.

Commissioning children's palliative care

"This resource is designed to support CCGs to effectively commission palliative care for children and young people. It covers the following:

• What is children’s palliative care?
• Who needs children’s palliative care?
• Who provides children’s palliative care?
• How should children’s palliative care be commissioned?"

Commissioning children's palliative care: a guide for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
Together for short lives
August 2013

Read more here.

Nurse staffing ratios and hospital readmission

"Children with common conditions treated in hospitals in which nurses care for fewer patients each are significantly less likely to experience readmission between 15 and 30 days after discharge."

An observational study of nurse staffing ratios and hospital readmission among children admitted for common conditions
HL Tubbs-Cooley, JP Cimiotti, JH Silber, DM Sloane, LH Aiken
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2013, 22:735-742

Read more here.

Designing and commissioning services for children and young people with asthma

"Delivering excellent child-centred services requires co-operation and partnership between clinicians, children’s professionals in health and education, strategic leaders in local services and children, young people and families."

Designing and commissioning services for children and young people with asthma: a good practice guide
Primary Care Commissioning
August 2013

Read more here.

National Programmes of Care and Clinical Reference Groups

There are 74 Clinical Reference Groups which are clustered around five national Programmes of Care:

1. Internal medicine
2. Cancer and blood
3. Mental health
4. Trauma
5. Women and children.

These which bring together services in functional groupings, and more can be found out here.

Report: Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust: Children's Congenital Cardiac Surgery Service

"Within the context and remit of this review no evidence was found of immediate significant safety concerns in terms of clinical governance, staffing or in the management of the patient pathway for surgical care in the Unit, or for referral to other Units in the examples of the specific case files examined."

Report of the External Review of Children’s Congenital Cardiac Surgery 
Service at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
D Riley
NHS England
April 2013

Read more here.

Child health profiles

"Child Health Profiles provide a snapshot of child health and well-being for each local authority in England using key health indicators, which enables comparison locally, regionally and nationally. By using the profiles local organisations can work in partnership to plan and commission evidence-based services based on local need."

Child health profiles
Child and Maternal Health Observatory (from 01/04/13 part of Public Health England)
March 2013

Access the child health profiles here.

NICE Quality Standard: asthma

"This quality standard covers the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in adults, young people and children aged 12 months and older."

QS25 Asthma
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
February 2013

Read more here.

Implementing evidence-based programmes in children's services

"This report brings together the latest international thinking about the key issues relating to the implementation of evidence-based programmes, utilising both published work and expert opinion."

Implementing evidence-based programmes in children's services: key issues for success
M Wiggins, H Austerberry, H Ward
Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre
Department for Education
October 2012

Read more here.

Epilepsy12

"The key aims of Epilepsy12 are:

• To facilitate health providers and commissioners to measure and improve quality of care for children and young people with seizures and epilepsies; and
• To contribute to the continuing improvement of outcomes for those children, young people and their families."

Epilepsy12
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
September 2012

Read more here.

Listening to children's views on health provision

"The review provides a synthesis of up-to-date evidence on children and young people’s views and experiences of health provision."

Listening to children's views on health provision: a rapid review of the evidence
I La Valle, L Payne, J Gibb, H Jelicic
National Children's Bureau
May 2012

Read more here.

Celebrating early implementer achievements - one year on

This report presents the outcomes of twenty-six Early Implementer Sites (EISs), which were established in March 2011 with the aim of delivering the full health visiting service vision and helping lead a step-change in the way these services are provided across the country.

Celebrating early implementer achievements - one year on
Department of Health
June 2012

Read more here.

Bringing networks to life

"This document aims to help all paediatricians across the UK contribute to the development of effective networked care and thus deliver the highest quality care to their patients."

Bringing networks to life: an RCPCH guide to implementing clinical networks
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
March 2012

Read more here.

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young Adults

"For the first time, variations across the breadth of child health services provided by NHS England are presented together to allow clinicians, commissioners and service users to identify priority areas for improving outcome, quality and productivity."

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young Adults
Right Care Programme, in collaboration with the Child and Maternal Health Observatory
March 2012

Find out more here.

Access the online version here.

Are we there yet? A review of organisational and clinical aspects of children's surgery

"This is the third study that NCEPOD has undertaken on surgery and anaesthesia in children."

Are we there yet? A review of organisational and clinical aspects of children's surgery
DG Mason, K Wilkinson, MJ Gough, SB Lucas, H Freeth, H Shotton, M Mason
National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death
October 2011

Read more here.