Written question WQ92968
- Asked by
- Andrew RT DaviesConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 8 days
Question
What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the long-term economic impacts of deteriorating child health in Wales?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Welsh Government is committed to improving the health of children and young people in Wales and to giving them the best start in life. We also recognise the impact that avoidable ill-health has on the economy, and we have preventative programmes in place for early years and beyond.
The range of policies and programmes in place across government play a crucial role in improving health outcomes, promoting child health, and wellbeing for children in Wales, including the following:
• The First 1000 Days Programme led by Public Health Wales. This takes a public health approach to improving health in the early years,
• Our Healthy Child Wales Programme, parts 1 and 2. This provides a unified and equitable public health offer for all babies, children and young people, regardless of setting.
• Our ten-year strategy for preventing and reducing obesity, ‘Healthy Weight Healthy Wales’. This has a strong focus on the early years and childhood. In terms of conditions such as asthma and diabetes, we use the national clinical audit as a tool to monitor the quality of healthcare provision for children and young people with these conditions as this supports NHS organisations to lead quality improvement projects to improve services and outcomes.
• Our draft mental health strategy sets out our vision for the next 10 years, including to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. This is currently out for consultation (closing on the 11 June) and we are encouraging stakeholders to respond to the consultation, so they can inform the priorities within the next strategy.
We are also investing in cutting waiting times and have seen the number of children waiting more than two years for treatment fall by 75% since April 2022.
The newly appointed Minister for Mental Health and Early Years is focused on ensuring that our programmes and interventions are aligned and fit for purpose, and we will continue to collaborate with our partners and across government departments to collectively concentrate our efforts on improving health outcomes for children and young people.