As President of Contact a Family, one of my main areas of interest is disabled children. In my former role of National Clinical Director for Children, I made over three hundred and fifty visits to children’s services across the length and breadth of the country. While there is excellent work being done in many areas, one of the major problems I have seen is the lack of understanding of children’s needs and children’s services in the minds of people who matter. They don’t always understand why the needs of children are different from those of adults. In some areas, children are seen as an ‘add on’ and the services provided for them are not part of the mainstream. Another difficulty is the poor understanding between health, social care and education.
That is why I am delighted that disabled children have been included as one of four local priority groups for service improvement in the NHS in England, through the operating framework announced in December 2007. This is the first time that disabled children have been a priority group for the NHS. This announcement coincided with confirmation that disabled children were also a priority for the Department for Children, Schools and Families in the Children’s Plan.
This year, the roll out of extra support for families through the ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ programme will begin from April onwards. Later in 2008, information prescriptions will be given to all adults and children in England with a long-term condition or social care need, in consultation with a health or social care professional. These prescriptions will guide parents to relevant and reliable sources of information to allow them to feel more in control and better able to manage their child’s condition. I know how important it is that when a child is diagnosed with a disability, long term or rare condition, families have access to good quality information. That is why I am delighted to write the foreword to the 2008 Directory, which remains a key of source of help and information for families and those working with them.
Finally, I’d like to say how honoured I am to be President of Contact a Family. I am proud to work with the staff, and I will do my best to help achieve even greater success for children and their families in the future.
Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green
President, Contact a Family
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