A generation of children let down?

According to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s (RCPCH) 2026 State of Child Health report, the UK now has some of the worst child health outcomes in Europe. The report assesses child’s health across 12 indicators and concludes that outcomes across the UK are either worsening or have stalled.

Published nearly a decade after the RCPCH’s first State of Child Health report in 2017, the 2026 report highlights pressures ranging from infant mortality and mental health to obesity, immunisation and asthma. Drawing on published data and the views of paediatricians and children, the report concludes that widening inequalities, data gaps and chronic under investment are putting “the health of a generation at risk”.

Senedd Research published an article on that first report: State of Child Health Report 2017. On publishing the 2026 report, the RCPCH Officer for Health Improvement, Dr Helen Stewart, said the UK’s record on child’s health should be “a national embarrassment”. She said the report shows that “we are categorically failing children in the UK, but especially those from ethnic minorities and poorer backgrounds”.

What does RCPCH want governments to do?

The RCPCH report argues that worsening child health is being driven by three recurring, linked pressures: gaps in child health data, widening inequalities and under investment in the child health workforce. Its three headline recommendations are that governments across the UK should:

• strengthen the quality, collection and sharing of child health data, including developing a single overarching measure of children’s health and wellbeing to track progress and inequalities;
• commit to explicit, meaningful national targets across the 12 indicators to improve children’s health and reduce inequalities; and
• address inequity in spending between child and adult health services, including through a Children’s Health Investment Standard, alongside funded, long-term child health workforce planning.

The report’s wider message is that without sustained investment in prevention, early support and joined-up services, children are likely to face poorer health, deeper inequalities and greater pressures later in life.

A King’s Fund April 2025 briefing set out ten actions for the UK Government to improve children’s health, centred on making children a higher priority in funding, planning and accountability. Some of the actions it called for include a greater and fairer share of health service funding for children; better online health and nutrition information and a national campaign on healthy eating; a renewed strategy to meet childhood vaccination targets; and a whole-government approach that listens to children and young people and puts prevention at the centre of policy.

What is happening in Wales?

Before the election, the previous Welsh Government said it was working with the National Strategic Clinical Network for Child Health to co-produce an Integrated Quality Statement for Children’s Health. The statement was expected in March 2026, but was not published. In the meantime, the National Strategic Clinical Network for Child Health has been working to support improvements in children’s health, and several other strands of work are relevant to the issues highlighted by RCPCH (such as, pressures in paediatric waiting times and community child health services). Senedd Research has published articles on maternity and neonatal services and youth vaping.

Mixed outcomes, uncertain response

The RCPCH report presents child health as both a public health issue and a children’s rights issue. The UK and Welsh governments have a responsibility under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to support every child to achieve the highest attainable standard of health.

In Wales, there are useful national data sources and policy initiatives across several areas, but also gaps in comparable data, stalled or worsening outcomes, and persistent inequalities between children in different circumstances.

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto committed to a ‘child public health plan’. RCPCH Wales has subsequently referred to this as a child health plan, calling on the Welsh Government to urgently deliver “bold, evidence-driven intervention to improve outcomes for babies, children and young people”. It is not yet clear whether the plan will focus principally on population health, prevention and inequalities, or also encompass NHS services, waiting times and the paediatric workforce.

Article by Sarah Hatherley, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament