Prioritising paediatric staff and space so every child has access to care

Paediatric and child health services must be protected from redeployment of staff and space in the future to safeguard the welfare of vulnerable and unwell children. Across the NHS, there was rapid reconfiguration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As children are rarely clinically affected by the disease, paediatric staff and services were often considered lower priority and therefore were reassigned to support the pandemic response. This was the right thing to do at the time. However, it is clear that children have disproportionately suffered during this period and they must now be prioritised.

Between April and July 2020, we collected weekly data from paediatric services about the impact of COVID-19 (see ). Our study found that in this period, up to 10% of all paediatric staff were not available to work (eg, shielding). Up to 22% of junior paediatric medical staff (on the tier 1 rota) were redeployed to adult...

from ADC Online First https://ift.tt/3254wnP