Warning on risk to children's health services

The shortage of doctors and nurses was now so severe that children’s health services were being put at risk, its report said.

The warning comes as vacancy rates in children’s wards reach 14 per cent, with uncertainties surrounding Brexit said to be hampering recruitment prospects.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the crunch had come at a time of rising demand for care, with hospital admissions among children increasing by a quarter in three years.

The college reported that in the year to September 2015, 31 per cent of paediatric inpatient units and 41 per cent of neonatal units had closed their doors for periods of time. It said there were now of 241 full-time vacancies for paediatricians, with 133 of those for consultants. A further 752 consultants were needed to meet its professional workforce standards.

The college has previously warned that NHS services for children were struggling to cope, partly due to female doctors going on maternity leave and working part-time.

Women represent more than half of the consultant workforce and three-quarters of trainee paediatricians, while nearly a quarter of consultants work part-time.

The report also warned of the impact of Brexit, saying there was “great uncertainty around immigration status and terms and conditions of employment for non-UK nationals” working in the UK.

Some 40 per cent of paediatricians gained their first qualification outside the UK, and the college called for paediatrics to be put on the “shortage occupation” list of healthcare professionals whose skills would benefit the NHS.

Professor Neena Modi, president of the college, said: “There simply aren’t enough doctors to meet the needs of infants, children and young people, and advance their healthcare through clinical research.

“It’s a credit to the existing workforce that they are, just, managing to continue to deliver the care children need.

“This is a dangerously under-resourced service, yet the means to redress the situation exist.

“It is legitimate for us, and the UK public, to ask why, when solutions exist, the health and wellbeing of children are being placed in jeopardy?”