Standards of Care

Guidance and publications

Safeguarding children and young people: roles and competences for healthcare staff Fourth edition: 2019 (PDF 987 KB)
To protect children and young people from harm, and help improve their wellbeing, all healthcare staff must have the competencies to recognise child maltreatment, opportunities to improve childhood wellbeing, and to take effective action as appropriate to their role. This intercollegiate document provides a clear framework which identifies the competencies required for all healthcare staff. - Royal College of Nursing

Facing the Future - standards for children and young people in emergency care settings 2018
This self-reported audit toolkit should be used by service leads to evaluate how well their children's emergency service aligns with the guidance provided by the standards. The toolkit was piloted in August 2018 across the UK and has been refined to support quality improvement and service development. - Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Standards for non-specialist emergency surgical care of children 2015 (PDF 740 KB)
This publication aims to combine in one document the large number of standards and guidance that have been published by all key stakeholder organisations involved in paediatric and children’s surgery in the past ten years. - Children’s Surgical Forum, RCS 

Facing the Future - Standards for acute general paediatric services 2015
"We believe that these standards will bring a level of consistency to what is currently quite a variable pattern of practice. The intention is to ensure that every child is seen in a timely manner by a suitably experienced doctor". - Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Standards for Children's Surgery 2013 (PDF 325 KB)
This document provides standards for the provision of children’s surgery. The overarching principle of these standards is to ensure children can receive surgery in a safe, appropriate environment, which is as close to their home as possible. - Children’s Surgical Forum, RCS

Ensuring the provision of general paediatric surgery in the district general hospital children’s surgical forum: Guidance to commissioners and service planners 2010 (PDF 319 KB)
This document provides guidance for commissioners and service planners within the NHS to ensure the continued availability of high-quality general paediatric surgery (GPS) that is easily accessible to patients. - Children’s Surgical Forum, RCS

General Paediatric Surgery Survey of Service Provision in District General Hospitals in England 2010 (PDF 384 KB)
This survey was carried out to give an account of the current provision of general paediatric surgery (GPS) in England. The survey identified which hospitals currently deliver this service with the aim to use the results for facilitating networking and training in this area of surgical practice. - Children’s Surgical Forum, RCS

Surgery for Children: Delivering a First Class Service 2007 (PDF KB)
This report contains important messages and advice for clinicians, support staff, service planners, commissioners and policy makers. We hope it will be a useful contribution and provide a foundation for improved surgical care of the young. - Children’s Surgical Forum, RCS