paediatric nursing October vol 18 no 8 

news

Hospitals not meeting NSF standard

70 per cent rated only ‘fair’ by Healthcare Commission
Most NHS hospitals in England need to
make a number of improvements to pro-
vide more child friendly services with suf-
ficient cover by appropriately trained staff,
according to the Healthcare Commission.
In its review of 157 hospitals the
Commission assessed progress against the
hospital standard of the National Service
Framework for Children and Young People,
published in 2003. The Commission looked
at where trusts should have already made
improvements.
Twenty five per cent of trusts received a
rating of ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. District hos-
pitals, as well as specialist children’s trusts,
are among the trusts scoring ‘excellent’.
Seventy per cent of trusts were rated as
‘fair’ and although services in these hospi-
tals are largely satisfactory, improvements
are needed. Five per cent of trusts had a
weak rating: they are failing to meet a sig-
nificant number of key elements from the
NSF.
Inpatient services were most likely to
have appropriate staff cover and children
are more likely to be treated in specific
children’s areas. The number of trusts
scoring ‘weak’ in emergency care and
day care settings is of concern, with 28
per cent of trusts rated as weak in each
case. Outpatient services had the greatest
room for improvement, with 46 per cent
of trusts rated as weak. These services had
particular problems in providing sufficient
staff cover with the right expertise such as
children’s nurses.
All of the trusts have now received
individual detailed reports highlighting
their scores and areas for improvement.
Individual trust reports are available from
at: www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/
improvementreviewchildrens

Children and
young people …
are we listening?
Nurses and researchers were challenged to
stop asking children’s and young people’s
views as they have repeatedly said what
they want and not been heard, accord-
ing to a leading researcher. Speaking at
the RCN’s annual conference in Bristol in
September, Margaret Fletcher, Reader in
Children’s Nursing at the University of the
West of England demonstrated how chil-
dren’s views have been consistent over
many years, but healthcare profession-
als have failed to act on what children and
young people are telling them. ‘We should
use the evidence we have before we go
asking the same questions and getting the
same answers’, she said.
A number of papers throughout the
conference addressed the realities of giv-
ing children, young people and families a
voice. In her closing address, Rhian Evans,
assistant commissioner for children in
Wales described the tension between chil-
dren’s rights and their welfare in child
protection situations. ‘Once the child has
disclosed their situation, adults take over Is it a hospital … ?
and the child’s best interest is decided by ‘A hospital that did not look or feel like a hospital’ was the brief that Hopkins
those adults’, she said. ‘Given the right Architects had to fulfil in designing the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London,
level of support and guidance children and a design that has been shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects’
young people can become their own pro- Stirling prize. The judges noted that the ‘emphasis of the design is on providing
tectors’, she added. an environment where children feel comfortable and relaxed’.