RCPCH Wales manifesto: prioritising child health

Automatic transcript, lightly edited for readability. It may contain errors, so check it against the video before quoting.

Hi, welcome to the conference for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. My name is Nick Wilkinson. I'm the Officer for Wales.

Hello there. My name is Dana Beasley and I'm the Deputy Officer for Wales.

As RCPCH Wales, we have published our manifesto in view of the upcoming elections in the Senedd in 2026. We notice significant deterioration in the health and wellbeing of our children and young people in Wales. As paediatricians, we are aware there are rising levels of obesity, rising levels of mental health issues, and there's widening health inequalities. But we also know that our workforce is tired, is stretched, and at the risk of burnout. There's a distinct lack of investment and funding of child health, and as a result, our children have the poorest health outcomes within Europe.

So, we've come up with four distinct priorities. This includes empowering the child health workforce, transforming children's health services, embracing data and digital innovation, and then delivering for all by tackling the inequalities in child health. To empower this, we're calling on all politicians to commit to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. And we look forward to engaging with you all to help transform children's services in Wales.