Children’s health is facing a deadly crisis, with life-threatening illnesses, obesity, eating disorders, and infectious diseases soaring, a shock new government report reveals.
Sir Keir Starmer is blaming the Conservatives for a “broken NHS” and claims the Tories’ NHS reforms are “unforgivable and “hopelessly misconceived”.
The shocking findings on the deteriorating health of the nation’s children are revealed in a study by leading cancer surgeon and former health minister, Lord Darzi.
He is raising the alarm bell on issues including:
• Falling vaccination rates for key childhood vaccinations – some declining for a decade – making measles and other infectious diseases more common;
• Prescriptions for ADHD medication for children and young people up 10% in the past year;
• Hospital admissions for children and young people with eating disorders up 82% since 2019-20;
• Children from most deprived backgrounds are now twice as likely to be obese by age five, and one in three children is obese by 11 in the poorest communities;
• Life-threatening and life-limiting conditions among children are up 40% in the past 20 years.
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“Too many are being let down,” Lord Darzi says in his report.
“Childhood is precious because it is brief; too many children are spending too much of it waiting for care. It is apparent that the NHS must do better,” he adds.
Lord Darzi’s report for Health Secretary Wes Streeting also reveals that more than 100,000 infants up to the age of two were left waiting for more than six hours in A&E departments in England last year.
He found a 60% rise in waiting times for that age group over the past 15 years, and 800,000 children and young people on NHS waiting lists for hospital treatment.
Some 175,000 were waiting between six and 12 months, and 35,000 waiting for more than a year, the report says.
He also uncovered that nearly 500,000 children and young people were on waiting lists for mental health support and that 160,000 of them had been waiting for over 12 months.
NHS is ‘broken’
Speaking ahead of the report’s publication, Sir Keir said: “The impacts of a broken NHS are being felt across the whole of our society – our children included.
“The challenges we’ve inherited are stark, but I’m determined to fix the foundations so that we not only rebuild our health service, but crucially also reform and renew it for the benefit of future generations.
“That also means equipping the NHS to prevent ill health, not just to treat it – so that all of us can live longer, healthier lives, from childhood to old age.”
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Health secretary: It’s clear to me the NHS is broken
And in a TV interview, the prime minister said: “Everybody watching this who has used the NHS, or have relatives who have, know that it’s broken, they know that it’s broken, that is unforgivable, the state of our NHS.”
On the reasons for the crisis, Sir Keir said: “The money that was taken out of the NHS, particularly in the early years of the coalition from 2010 onwards, the Lansley reforms, which were hopelessly misconceived, and then of course COVID on top of all that, which has put us in this awful position for the NHS.”
He added: “It’s the last government that broke the NHS. Our job now, through Lord Darzi, is to properly understand how that came about and bring about the reforms, starting with the first steps – the 40,000 extra appointments. But we’ve got to do the hard yards of reform as well.”
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Responding to the Darzi report, shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins said: “After 14 years in opposition, with time to think about the issues facing modern-day healthcare, Labour’s instinct is to politicise children’s health, rather than provide solutions and reform of our NHS.
“Labour knows that the Conservatives brought more doctors, more nurses and more investment into the NHS, including in mental health services, as well as long-term funded plans to reform the NHS and expand the workforce.
“We have always acknowledged that there are pressures, including the impact of social media on young minds, a growing reluctance in some parts of society to vaccinate children and an increase in diagnoses of ADHD. To find solutions to these issues requires serious and sober thinking, not headline chasing.
“Sadly, all Labour has done in health since the election is issue press releases, appoint cronies and give a budget-busting pay rise to striking junior doctors, with no plans for reform.
“I will work constructively with anyone who wants to improve our nation’s health; Labour should stop politicising our children’s health and the NHS if they are serious about reform.”