Promoting the health of looked after children
Children coming into the care system are amongst the most vulnerable in society. As well as health needs which often stem from poverty, they may have undiagnosed health problems, be suffering the effects of physical or sexual abuse or neglect or may be in care because they are disabled and their parents need help to cope.
Although the 1989 Children Act requires local authorities to ensure that each child has an annual medical report, uptake of health assessments can be as low as 25 per cent in some authorities. Many young people refuse to attend and the reports are often of poor quality. Children in care are often excluded from school and therefore from the input of school health services and unstable fostering means that children in care spend long periods as temporary residents of general practices.
In an editorial, Leon Polnay, professor of child health at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham and Harriet Ward, senior research fellow at Loughborough University, say that a complete culture change, with designated and specially trained doctors and nurses will be needed to achieve better continuity of care for these children.
Contact:
Professor Leon Polnay, Division of Child Health, School of Human Development, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham Email: leon.polnay@nottingham.ac.uk
OR
Harriet Ward, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University Email: h.ward@lboro.ac.uk