Child Health

The vision of the UCLPartners Child Health Programme is that, within the next 5-10 years, children and adolescents with chronic conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, and diabetes, and those at risk of obesity, will access cutting-edge research and proven innovations translated into routine health care provision. This  will improve their health, well-being and life chances – and begin a transformation in how the next generation manage their health and interact with health care providers.

We are committed to leading the rapid translation of science and innovations through, for example, the information revolution, digital healthcare, evidence-based care pathways, diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions. The UCLPartners Child Health Programme is focused on the following areas:

• Translation of “Customer Relationship Management” (a proven innovation in Industry)  to juvenile diabetes through a Patient Relationship Management (PRM) approach that enables children and their families to access evidence-based care within their own homes. The learning from this project  will be a platform for changing the dynamic between patients and providers of health care placing the needs and preferences of patients at the centre of their care.
• Improvement of the care of asthma in the community to reduce unnecessary emergency department attendances. This project includes disseminating and implementing a new integrated acute and urgent care pathway for children and young people with asthma, developed at UCLH with partners at the North Middlesex Hopstial and NHS Islington PCT. It also includes disseminating a recently developed and piloted individualised asthma management plan;  implementing a novel patient-held log (“My Asthma Log”) developed in collaboration with Asthma UK; and implementing a novel modified paediatric asthma annual assessment.
• Translation of research on obesity during pregnancy into interventions that improve pregnancy outcomes and mitigate long term effects on the infant. A detailed project is  being developed, based on an audit of the current service (for example, high c-section rates) and discussions with commissioners. The project aims to develop a new model of care for pregnant women with a body mass index above 30 (including, for example, triage to specialist clinics and regular monitoring of fetal growth.
• Translation of research on the educational and behavioural impairments encountered by children with epilepsy into school-based interventions to support full access to learning for each child. Funding is currently being sought for a pilot.

For more information, please contact Professor David Goldblatt, Programme Director for Child Health at UCLPartners.