Integrated child health care: from policy to evidence-based practice

Since the 1950s, the integration of primary and specialist care for children has been a challenge and focus of debate within the English National Health Service (NHS). 1 Maile EJ Singh R Black GB Blair M Hargreaves DS Back to the future? Lessons from the history of integrated child health services in England. Future Healthc J. 2022; 9: 183-187 Crossref PubMed Google Scholar Most recently, the 2014 NHS Five Year Forward View, the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan, and the establishment of Integrated Care Boards in 2022 2 National Health Service EnglandIntegrated care boards in England. https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/integrated-care-boards-in-england/Date: March 31, 2023 Date accessed: September 27, 2023 Google Scholar have all envisaged progressively closer multidisciplinary working between primary care and specialist teams, while giving local decision makers considerable freedom as to how these principles should be implemented. Effect of the Children and Young People's Health Partnership model of paediatric integrated care on health service use and child health outcomes: a pragmatic two-arm cluster randomised controlled trialAlthough the CYPHP trial found a null effect for the primary outcomes, we found clinically important improvements in some secondary outcomes including care quality. Previous research has shown that large-scale system change requires time to observe a potential positive effect. Full-Text PDF Open Access