A new report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has laid bare the crisis in children’s community health services. New analysis from RCPCH shows that, as of March 2025, there are over 314,000 children waiting for essential community health services. This figure represents a 5% rise from February to March and means a further 16,000 children are waiting for vital treatment.
Community paediatricians are doctors who specialise in caring for children with the greatest needs in our communities. They work in clinics, schools, or community health centres, focusing on long-term care and coordination across services. Their roles include diagnosing conditions such as autism, ADHD, developmental delays, assessing safeguarding concerns and supporting children with complex medical needs outside of hospital settings.
Despite the vital role community health services play for children and families, there remains a longstanding and consistent disparity in waiting times between children and adults. From April 2024 to March 2025, the adult waiting list decreased by 2%, while the waiting list for children and young people increased by 11%. As of now, 21.5% of children have been waiting over 52 weeks, compared to just 1.3% of adults. While 86% of adults are seen within the NHS's 18-week target, only 49.6% of children and young people are seen within the same timeframe.
The UK Government has made shifting care from hospital to the community a priority as part of the 10 Year Health Plan process. Paediatricians have welcomed this intention, but have raised concerns over how community health services for children will be able to meet this change without greater focus and, crucially, investment.
In their report ‘Collaborative Healthcare in England: Delivering the services children need in the community’, RCPCH lay out a series of recommendations that aim to help build a stronger service in the community for children and young people to help ensure the UK Government is able to realise its ambition to create the healthiest generation of children ever.
RCPCH recommendations include:
- Introducing a distinct waiting times target for community waits to match the referral-to-treatment hospital targets.
- Implementing a Children’s Health Investment Standard to address the investment gap between child and adult health services and gradually move towards more equitable service funding.
- Prioritising the child health workforce in national planning including by investing in training, skills and support for the children’s community health workforce.
RCPCH Officer for Health Services, Dr Ronny Cheung, said: "For too long, children’s community services have been overlooked in the post-covid recovery agenda. As paediatricians, we’re being asked to do more with less and as a result children and their families are waiting months and sometimes over a year for support that we know they urgently need.
"Lengthy waits are unacceptable for any patient but for children and young people the waits can be catastrophic, as many treatments need to be given by a specific age or developmental stage. Waits such as these can result in delayed starts to school, limitations on socialising, play sports, increased risk of poor mental health, behavioural problems and distress for both the child and their families.
"We want the NHS’s 10-year plan to succeed, but we cannot shift care into the community while children are currently being left behind. Without urgent action, these waiting lists will continue to grow — and children will keep missing out on the vital care they need."
