Commenting on the publication of the Early Years Health Development Review, RCPCH President Professor Russell Viner said:
It is good to see publication of a vision and we are grateful to Andrea Leadsom for her hard work in drawing together much-needed thinking over the last few months.
The importance of early years in establishing the life chances of children across the life course cannot be overstated. Access to joined up, wrap-around support is integral to ensuring all children have the best start in life.
The six action areas identified in the vision for early years echo our three priorities from RCPCH’s State of Child Health 2020 project - reducing health inequalities, prioritise public health, prevention and early intervention and build and strengthen local, cross-sector services. We have seen the impacts of COVID-19 exacerbate health inequalities, and so this is now even more crucial than this time last year.
We are pleased to see the digitisation of the Personal Child Health Record (PCHR), commonly known as the red book, will be brought forward. This has an important role to play in ensuring children's health and wellbeing needs are considered across services, optimising opportunities for early intervention.
We will continue to hold the Westminster Government to account for implementing these actions and hope to see them backed by additional funding for Local Authorities.