As childhood obesity rates remain high and tooth decay is a leading cause for hospital admissions, the charity Barnardo’s says radical action is needed.

More than one in five children are obese by the time they leave primary school, Barnardo’s has warned, as it calls on the government to create a child health action plan. 

Labour’s much-vaunted ambitions for more people to be treated in their neighbourhood with joined-up care must be designed around the needs of young people, the charity says, with the focus on prevention. 

A new report from Barnardo’s argues that children’s health is shaped long before they see a GP or go to hospital, with poverty, housing insecurity and chronic stress all major influences. 

Tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions among young children despite being entirely preventable, and one in five people between eight and 25 have a probable mental health condition. 

The report urges the government to make prevention and tackling inequalities the measure of success for its neighbourhood health framework. 

Barnardo’s wants to see “truly” integrated local services and has pointed to its Family Focus programme to illustrate how this could work. 

Wellbeing workers

Working with Modality Partnership, the charity has placed wellbeing workers in five GP practices in Birmingham and Smethwick. Once referred by a doctor, the wellbeing workers can provide support with issues such as domestic violence, housing or special educational needs.  

Aimee McGuinness, a wellbeing worker, was able to help a family with their housing issues after a parent went to the GP complaining of breathing problems. It then turned out that the family lived in a house with mould that the landlord was refusing to fix. 

In another example, a family was helped to access financial support and a more secure and suitable home after fleeing domestic violence and being placed in temporary accommodation which was an hour from the child’s school. 

By providing practical support, these workers address the root causes of ill health beyond the scope of GP consultations, Barnardo’s said.  

Barnardo’s chief executive Lynn Perry said that children’s health is “inseparable from their families, schools and communities,” and if services do not take all this into consideration, attempts to prevent poor health cannot be successful. 

A child health action plan should set out the role of neighbourhood centres, outline the functions of different government departments and align national and regional delivery, as well as creating a consistent framework for measuring progress. 

This, Perry said, will help create a system that “allows every child to feel safer, happier and healthier” after being let down for too long.