Government refreshes Healthy Child Programme to strengthen prevention and early intervention

The Department of Health and Social Care has published an updated Healthy Child Programme, setting out a refreshed national framework for improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people across England from pregnancy through to adulthood.

The programme provides the national framework for public health nursing services, covering children and young people aged 0 to 19, or up to 25 for care leavers and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It aims to improve health outcomes through prevention, early intervention and targeted family support.

The updated guidance is intended to support local authorities, NHS organisations, integrated care boards and provider organisations in commissioning and delivering consistent, evidence-based services. It aligns with the government’s wider ambition of creating the healthiest generation of children and supports the ambitions set out in the 10 Year Health Plan for England.

The programme is delivered by health visiting teams during pregnancy and the early years, and school nursing teamsthroughout school-age education. It follows the principle of proportionate universalism, ensuring all families receive universal support while providing additional targeted and specialist services for those with greater needs.

Alongside the refreshed delivery guidance, the government has also updated its commissioning guidance and high-impact area framework. These publications set expectations for service quality, workforce capability, safeguarding, partnership working and performance monitoring, while identifying the areas where health visitors and school nurses can have the greatest impact on children’s physical, mental and emotional health.

The Healthy Child Programme underpins statutory public health responsibilities and is designed to support earlier identification of need, reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes through coordinated working between health services, local authorities and partner organisations.

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