SUMMER 2015 NEWSLETTER
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Facing the Future:
Facing the Future:
@RCPCHtweets
Together for child health
Standards for acute
2015
general paediatric services
Revised 2015
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Fit for the future: new and revised paediatric standards launch At the RCPCH Annual Conference on 29 April, the RCPCH launched the revised Facing the Future: Standards for Acute General Paediatric Services, and the RCPCH, RCN and RCGP launched the new Facing the Future: Together for Child Health standards. First published in 2010, Facing the Future: Standards for Acute General Paediatric Services sets out ten standards for high-quality, safe and sustainable general paediatric services. It was always intended that the standards would remain live and flexible to changes in the health system and, based on the findings of the Back to Facing the Future audit, the RCPCH has revised four of the standards. It is essential that paediatrics is a 24 hours a day, seven days a week specialty, with the most experienced doctors present at the busiest times. As well as improving standards of care in hospital we also need to address the increasing number of emergency
department attendances and admissions. More than a quarter of attendances are under 16s and many of these could be managed more effectively outside the hospital. Facing the Future: Together for Child Health aims to ensure there is high-quality diagnosis and care early in the unscheduled care pathway and to reduce unnecessary attendances and admissions. Where children do need to be cared for in hospital, the standards aim to reduce the length of stay, enabling them to go home as safely and quickly as appropriate. The standards will ensure specialist child health expertise is available directly to general practice, where the needs of the child and their family are known. For more information and to view the new and revised standards visit: www.rcpch.ac.uk/facingthefuture and www.rcpch.ac.uk/togetherforchildhealth ISOBEL HOWE Health Policy Lead