MPs hold session to explore community paediatric care, speech and language therapy and childhood vaccinations
The Health and Social Care Committee continues its inquiry into the first 1000 days of life on Wednesday, with a three panel session exploring the support provided to children and families by NHS services from conception to age two.
Meeting details
In the first part of the session MPs will examine the provision of community paediatric services, asking witnesses for their views on the challenges families face in accessing services, how pressures in community paediatrics could be alleviated, and whether support in the first 1000 days is prioritised at an ICS level.
MPs will also reflect on the Government’s desired ambition to move more care into the community and probe what is needed to enable more paediatric care to be delivered in a primary care environment.
In the second panel of the session, the Committee will examine the delivery of speech and language therapy services, asking what impact the failure to provide adequate speech and language support during the first 1000 days can have later in a child's life.
MPs will explore how well speech and languages services are integrated into wider service provision, and how integration could be improved, as well as asking witnesses what they think the workforce plan should include on speech and language therapists.
The third panel of the session will cover vaccination in the first 1000 days of life with MPs posing a number of questions around vaccination coverage rates and the NHS vaccination strategy.
The Committee will probe why there are significant regional and ethnic disparities in vaccination coverage rates as well as asking witnesses if they think there is anything missing from the NHS vaccination strategy and whether consideration should be given to increased investment in vaccine programmes.