Barnardo’s welcomes the Health and Care Bill, as it provides a unique and timely opportunity to tackle child health inequalities and improve the integration of health and social care services. We hope this will mean better provision of preventative and early intervention support for children and families, to ensure they receive the right support at the right time, stemming the development of more acute and complex problems that many families face today. It is during childhood that the foundations of adult health are laid.
Children growing up in England today face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe, from poor nutrition and high levels of obesity to increasingly poor mental health. Alongside this, we continue to see the increasing impact of climate change on children’s health, including increased air pollution. In addition, children living in the most deprived communities face much poorer health outcomes than their wealthier peers. Many of these issues, if left unresolved, are carried into adulthood, with huge costs to our health and social care systems.