Child Protection continues to be a major area of work for the college. Although an emotive and controversial issue the college has striven to provide support for both clinicians and families. In the reporting year, the RCPCH Health Services Department developed online child protection information pages for the health services area of the College website. Information included an online survey for Named and Designated doctors to obtain information on demographics, workload and support needs. Model job descriptions were also made available to ensure a clear understanding of the role. These web pages also provide a full list of related documents, policies, events, and external links (www.rcpch.ac.uk/Health-Services/ Child-Protection).
Workforce As part of College health services policy, the RCPCH collects a range of data about the paediatric medical workforce. Recent work has centered around the impact of policies such as the Working Time Directive and changes to the Consultant contract, informing workforce modelling and annual reviews with the NHS. Information from a biannual census of career grade paediatricians is supported by regular surveys of the numbers and career intentions of paediatric trainees. Some of the new and regular activities carried out in 2006/7 consisted of: n The Working Time Solutions project ‘Children and Maternity Services in 2009’. Funded by NHS National Workforce Projects and undertaken jointly with RCOG. Begun in May 2007. n Workforce Census 2005 results published in August 2006. n SpR follow up survey undertaken in Autumn 2007, with a report issued in June 2007. n 2007 RCPCH and RCN Nursing Workforce Survey of all NHS organisations employing children’s nurses (via the Director of Nursing). n Publication of the 2005 census ‘A Changing Workforce’ highlighting a slowdown in the growth of the paediatric workforce.
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Policy and standards The new Policy and Standards Directorate, led by David Ennis, serves to: n Co-ordinate and manage the development of College policy. n Ensure adherence to College procedures, rules and regulations. n Promote paediatric standards of practice. n Advocate on important paediatric issues as well as children’s access to health and health care. n Promote the rights of children and young people according to the UN Convention on the rights of the child. n Encourage the participation of children, parents and carers within college activity and practice. The College continues to address standards of practice for paediatricians by working with NHS bodies such as the National Clinical Assessment Service, the National Patient Safety Agency and Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence. The CMO’s report “Good Doctors, Safer Patients” proposed an increasing role for Medical Colleges on revalidation. In response to this and other recommendations outlined in the report, the RCPCH began to investigate model proposals for the recertification process and the provision of revalidation opportunities for paediatricians. In addition, the 2007 RCPCH Policy Conference theme, “The Career Continuum: From Foundation to Senior Fellow”, considered how to integrate RCPCH work to provide a training, assessment and professional support and development service for paediatricians throughout their professional careers. In these ways the College continues to ensure the highest standards of healthcare practice.
A number of consultations were issued by the Department for Health, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Parliamentary Office on Science and Technology, Home Office, National Institute for Clinical Excellence and Ministers among others. The College consulted widely on the CMO’s report on medical expert witnesses: ‘Bearing Good Witness – Proposals for reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases’. Two other important consultations that the College responded to were: n GMC document ‘Children and Young People: Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities’. n Home Office document ‘Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children’.
Advocacy The College continues to build on the good work already achieved for child advocacy awareness in strategy and practice. Overseen by the Advocacy Committee led by Dr Tony Waterston, the RCPCH have kept advocacy at the centre of College work in 2006/7 in the following ways: n Contributing to College responses to consultations relating to child advocacy. n Developing a guide to the processes for advocating for children’s rights. n Working with over 20 UK charities to feed in evidence to the Children’s Rights Alliance for England enquiry into UK compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. n UNCRC Training day, for members, staff and lay representatives, to understand how the UNCRC is relevant to paediatricians work. The session also incorporated Article 12 – the child’s right to be heard – as a regular feature for this and future training days. n Presentation to raise College staff awareness of the UNCRC .