Archived decisions

REPORT OF THE

HEALTH REVIEW COMMITTEE

PART II

HEALTH CARE FOR LOOKED-AFTER CHILDREN

1. At its meeting on 5 June 2003 the Health Review Committee instigated its first review - the Health of Children and Young Adults, the first phase of which is the Health of Looked-After Children.

2. There is a new requirement on Social Services authorities and their NHS partners to ensure looked-after children have a health assessment when taken into care and for there to be a health plan for each child which is regularly reviewed (Children Act (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2002). This new requirement has arisen out of a national recognition that these are issues and problems in managing information and health care decisions relating to looked-after children. A programme of work has recently been agreed within the Social Services Department which would inform the review, and the work undertaken in this review would complement and extend that already intended within Social Services.

3. There are other issues which could appropriately be considered within this review. Some may not be particular to looked-after children, but incidence may be higher for this group than amongst children generally. Some may be a consequence of a particular characteristic of looked-after children, e.g. care arrangements may change, which would have a consequent change in their placements. The working group may consider including within the scope of the review provision and transference of health information and advice relevant to looked-after children, and whether life-style decisions of looked-after children, as a group, result in higher health risk than for children as a whole.

4. A core working group under the Chairmanship of Councillor Mrs Banks has been established with a remit of completing a report on this phase by the end of 2003 to enable it to be considered at the first meeting of the Health Review Committee in 2004.

5. In addition a working group has been formed ready to review the Strategic Health Authority's HealthFit proposals, when they are submitted to the County for scrutiny.

Dr. R. J. Ellis

Chairman

4IR570603