'Shortfall' in surgery for sick children

The shortfall in general paediatric surgery at local hospitals means children face delays or long journeys to specialist centres for the operations instead, the Royal College of Surgeons' Children's Surgical Forum said.

The report, funded by the Department of Health, said the workload of specialist centres was facing "significant pressure" as children were being referred there instead of local hospitals for both emergency and routine surgery.

The survey covers NHS hospitals in England. It concluded that the shortfall in children's operations at district hospitals will continue unless they take action to carry out surgical training and share resources.

Su-Anna Boddy, who chairs the forum, said: "This survey reveals that the current way general children's surgery is provided not only puts children and their families at a disadvantage in terms of accessing routine care locally but also prevents trainees in adult general surgery and urology from developing skills to manage routine surgical conditions in children."

The survey found 305 district general hospitals which could provide paediatric operations but only 48.5 per cent said they could do emergency surgery.

A total of 58.3 per cent said they could offer elective surgery but more hospitals have the infrastructure to be able to provide it.

Many NHS trusts have difficulties providing anaesthetic services for children, with 33 per cent saying they could not anaesthetise children under the age of three.

The Children's Surgical Forum has recommended that hospitals develop systems to make sure children and their families do not have to travel long distances for surgery, and also that more people are trained to carry out the operations.

Prof Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said: "The report will assist NHS providers and commissioners in implementing high-quality, safe and sustainable services for children."