NHSE accused of ‘admitting defeat’ on children’s waits

NHS England guidance suggesting adult services are the priority for bringing down long waits risks “failing” children, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has said.

A senior paediatrician criticised advice issued by the health service on how to approach 18-week community targets introduced this month.

Ronny Cheung, officer for health services at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told HSJ that proposing to “just focus on this group [adult musculoskeletal services] and ignore children – for all of the burden [that is on them] – is a bit of an admission of defeat and failing these children”.

The NHS England guidance, which was published late last month, said: “Early progress in reducing 18-week waits is likely to be achieved through a focus on adult service lines, particularly the high-volume community musculoskeletal service line”.

Meanwhile, it said the longest waits were “largely concentrated” in children and young people’s services, and “addressing these will require sustained, long-term effort”.

But Dr Cheung said NHSE’s suggested approach rested on two misperceptions. “There’s a perception that children’s community waits are relatively speaking still quite small in comparison to the adult ones, and that’s not true,” he told HSJ. “The second slight misperception is that it is such an intractable problem that actually there’s no point in [services] focusing on that.”

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Source: HSJ, 23 April 2026