SERVICE DETAILS
We are the only national charity in Scotland dedicated to making sure children and young people get the healthcare treatment they need. We promote and champion the needs of all children and young people and their families at times of illness. We also supply information, resources and support with the aim of helping families access the best possible healthcare.
Children’s Health Scotland promotes the needs of all children and young people in our healthcare system, working for improved standards and quality of care whether they are ill in hospital, at home, or in the community. This includes children and young people in care who may not enjoy the love and support of a caring family.
Recent Scottish Government policy has focused on the needs of this group, as there has been considerable concern at the less than favourable outcomes for children and young people who are looked after, whether at home or away from home either in residential, foster or kinship care.
The aim of this service is to support the best possible provision of healthcare services for Looked after Children and Young People at times of illness by:
- Promoting universal recognition of the needs and rights of children and young people in and leaving care
- Developing appropriate resources for them and their carers to combat this vulnerability.
The service started in 2007. It identified the main health concerns for children and young people looked after away from home when they are ill, A number of issues closely aligned with our work and resources, emerged:
- Regular medical and dental checks
- Immunisations – our Children and Pain and Helping Children Cope with Needles Guides
- Physical injury
- Poor self-care and hygiene
- Who cares when a looked after child is ill in hospital, community or home
- Children and young people’s healthcare rights – Young Person’s EACH Charter
- Navigating the system and accessing healthcare services
- Living with a long term condition.
Partnership work
This service has concentrated on two distinct strands of work:
Foster Carer Training
We have developed a series of workshops to help foster carers and others gain a deeper understanding of the health needs and rights of children and young people, so that they can be best supported at times of illness and enabled to access appropriate healthcare services. For more information on the workshop sessions, click here.
Kinship Carer Training
There are often additional complex healthcare issues for a child in kinship care, for example, around birth parents’ mental health, fear of inherited conditions, challenges relating to consent and confidentiality and interfamilial tensions relating to the child coming into care in the first place. These workshops help support carers to manage the care. To find out more, please see https://www.childrenshealthscotland.org/service/children-and-young-people-in-and-leaving-care.
