Health: Urgent action call on ‘grim’ state of child wellbeing

Health professionals are calling for urgent action on the “grim” declining state of children’s health in Wales.

Medical professionals from 20 organizations have signed a joint letter to the prime minister, calling for steps to address problems such as obesity, mental health and tooth decay.

The Welsh government said it was committed to improving health services.

“Every day in clinics I see increased levels of distress, increasing amounts of tooth decay – that’s a normal part of our examination and advice now – and an increase in school absence as a result of health conditions,” said Dr Wilkinson.

The signatories have created the Welsh Royal Colleges Child Health Collaborative (WRCCHC), which Dr Wilkinson said aims to work with the Welsh government and NHS to “redesign care and really prioritize the wellbeing of children and young people, who are our future generation”.

It comes after recent reports from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Academy of Medical Sciences which highlighted the disproportionate effect of poverty on children’s health.

“The impacts of austerity have been huge, and then latterly the cost of living crisis, the pandemic. All of this has contributed.”

He added poverty was affecting 29% of children, 21% of working-age adults and 16% of pensioners.

“It makes for really grim reading, but this is a complex and difficult problem to solve, and there’s no quick fix,” he said.

Pippa Cotterill, head of the Wales office at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, said the pandemic had “a huge impact on the lives of children and young people”.

“There has never been a greater need for professional organizations to come together to push for improvements,” she said.

She added: “We have a duty to preserve the health and wellbeing of our children and young people, and as healthy children become healthy adults, there is a strong economic argument for this.”

Dr Wilkinson said: “One pound spent on young people’s health care, especially in the early years, equates to £10 yield in the health economy later on.

“So there’s cost effectiveness to this. But equally we need a greater discourse. It’s not just about health, it’s also about wellbeing.”

He said the group believed the Welsh government wanted to focus on children’s wellbeing, “but there is more to do”.

“We just want to refocus on early intervention and prevention. We need more innovation and tech specifically targeted at children and young people and the point of the collaboration is that we will sign up to this and develop a whole workforce plan that meets new changes in delivery of care,” he said.

The Welsh government said it was “committed to improving health services for children and giving them the best, healthy start in life”.

“We are investing in cutting waiting times and the number of children waiting more than two years for treatment has fallen by 75% since April 2022,” he said.