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It kinda came out of the blue, but when a Welsh Government representative said, ‘what is the RCPCH doing for Wales?’ it felt a little like a Monty Python sketch but we ran with it. 

“We provide fully accredited paediatricians - training, examining, setting standards, advocacy and informing child health research and policy too,” perhaps should have been my answer. This is our core business after all, although not quite the aqueducts, sanitation, great wines, law and order and Circus Maximus of the Romans.  

Instead, I blustered - well there’s a lot to do! We’ve got to help fix child poverty, unhealthy weights, mental health, dental health, school attendance and physical activity - wasn’t perhaps the best answer. All a bit worthy and I was itching to return the question.  

For me there’s two questions here: 

1. what have we achieved?  
2. what do we want to achieve?  

The first I’ve tried to answer in this blog, the second I need your help with. If you’re a member in Wales, we want to know what you want RCPCH Wales to focus on. What do you want us to ask the Welsh Government to do and what’s important to paediatrics in Wales? We’re running a - make sure to fill it out.  

So what have we achieved? This is what the six of us in the Welsh Office, Dana, Malcolm, Saurabh, Sarah, Lisa and I, have tried to answer. Most of us have been in post for under a year and began by listening and orientating ourselves through our Welsh National Specialist Advisory Group, Welsh Executive Committee, RCPCH Council and WPS meetings.

Since September 2023, we’ve responded to 14 Welsh Government consultations and committee inquiries, put out four Wales specific media statements ranging from free school meals to child poverty to waiting times, and currently sit on over 35 taskforces, task and finish groups, reference groups and alliances. I won’t bore you with all the details, but here’s a look back on the last year and some of our highlights. 

Royal Colleges Welsh Child Health Collaborative  

In May we set up the Royal Colleges Welsh Child Health Collaborative. With buy in from 20 Royal Colleges and Professional Bodies we wrote to the previous First Minister for Wales to ask how the government will improve child health and support the workforce that cares for children and young people. We’ve also met with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and NHS Executive Strategic Clinical Child Health Network. Together as a united voice we plan to campaign for improvements in child health over the coming year and push child health up the agenda. 

Worried and Waiting  

In February, we published Worried and Waiting: A review of paediatric waiting times in Wales. The report highlighted the stark increase in workforce pressures and waiting times from 2016-2023, with a spotlight on the last year. The report provided recommendations for the Welsh Government on how to expand the workforce and reduce demands.  

We launched the report with a Senedd/Welsh Parliament event, which was attended by over a third of Members of the Senedd (MS). We followed this up in June with another event to update MS on what’s changed. This led to a question to the First Minister on what the Government is doing to improve child health, citing our work. . 

School attendance 

This is a topic I’m particularly interested in as it has a huge bearing on long term outcome. We were therefore very keen to represent physical health on the Welsh Government’s National Attendance Taskforce and approached the former Education Minister, Jeremy Miles MS, to be included. Now we also have the opportunity to give feedback to the new RCPCH working group tasked to develop a position statement on school attendance - more to come on this over the coming months, I’m sure.  

Evidence sessions  

We’ve also been invited to give evidence to Senedd/Welsh Parliament Committees to inform their inquiries. 

The first being the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s inquiry into whether disabled children have equal access to education, and the second was the Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into long term health conditions.  

The Children, Young People and Education Committee have and RCPCH was mentioned through the report and our recommendation for improving the links between health and education were present. This is a great success, and we look forward to seeing the Welsh Government’s response to the report. 

St David’s Day Conference  

RCPCH facilitated the fantastic trainee-led St David’s Day conference in February. Led by Dr Matthew Spencer, I’m sure everyone who attended would agree it was a fantastic day of learning, hearing from inspirational speakers and networking. Following the conference, Matthew wrote a blog on his experience of leading the way. 

The St David’s Day Conference will be returning in 2025 – to get involved make sure to email Malcolm and me on enquiries-wales@rcpch.ac.uk - and we are very keen to learn more from trainees to make sure we have a service fit for the future, so look forward to hearing from you. 

Welsh Paediatric Society  

In May we supported the Welsh Paediatric Society to deliver an outstanding spring clinical meeting at the Wrexham Football Ground (alas no Ryan Reynolds), with Lisa providing key administrative support. I look forward to attending the next clinical meeting in November in Swansea.  

As WPS President I also need your thoughts on WPS, too. This goes back to my second question, ‘what do we want to achieve?’ Are there new opportunities to enhance the strength of our community? A survey has been laid out to let you know what’s happening and seek your insights and opinions. We will circulate a link soon. 

Blogs 

These are as much a personal venture as well as a reflection on what is happening in Wales - they’ve focused on both unmet need - such as the ‘missing middle’ and ‘adolescent and young adult care’ - and also service redesign or integrated care to meet this need:  

1. August 2024: If schooling underwent a technology appraisal could we fund it?  
2. June 2024: Spot the difference – addressing social determinants in everyday management 
3. April: ‘Wronging the ancientry’ – adolescent care  
4. March 2024: Data needs a good story
5. February 2024: It's time to examine the data on paediatric waiting times (and healthcare expenditure) in Wales 
6. January 2024: Fresh beginnings or just another year
7. December 2023: Feed me now, Seymour 
8. November 2023: Introducing the RCPCH Wales Deputies  
9. October 2023: Scoring F for Fitness 
10. October 2023: Care by the right people, in the right place at the right time 
11. September 2023:The Missing Middle – who are they are why do they matter?
12. July 2023: Contributing for improved outcomes across Wales 

While there’s so much more we could discuss, perhaps the highlights are the best way for how we can be judged.  

If you have suggestions or want to enhance the impact you are having elsewhere (perhaps you have set up a working group or are on another RCPCH committee), please contact me or any of the team directly and make sure to fill out our surveys (both RCPCH and WPS) - our job is to increase the impact you are having.