The future of children's services

This month, the Health and Social Care Bill became and Act, and therefore law. This signals the fact that key changes are about to take place affecting the provision of all of healthcare, including children and young people's services.

This article outlines the recent key policy changes that came ahead of the Bill and looks at the challenges and opportunities for all healthcare practitioners working with children.

Recent policies

Healthy Lives, brighter futures: the strategy for children and young people's health, a joint strategy between the DH and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, published under the Labour government in 2009, stresses the importance of the early years.¹