Children Are We Listening

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 provide more child friendly services with sufficient 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 hospitals are largely satisfactory, improvements are needed. Five per cent of trusts had a weak rating: they are failing to meet a significant 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, according 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 children’s views have been consistent over many years, but healthcare professionals 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 giving children, young people and families a voice. In her closing address, Rhian Evans, assistant commissioner for children in Wales described the tension between children’s rights and their welfare in child protection situations. ‘Once the child has disclosed their situation, adults take over and the child’s best interest is decided by those adults’, she said. ‘Given the right level of support and guidance children and young people can become their own protectors’, she added.

Is it a hospital … ? ‘A hospital that did not look or feel like a hospital’ was the brief that Hopkins Architects had to fulfil in designing the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London, a design that has been shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling prize. The judges noted that the ‘emphasis of the design is on providing an environment where children feel comfortable and relaxed’.