We would like to make a change: Children and young people’s participation in strategic health decision-making

This research was carried out by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) Research Centre for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England (OCC), in conjunction with the policy team at NCB. It presents a picture of children and young people’s1 participation in strategic health decision-making ahead of the implementation of the Government’s reforms to the health service from April 2013.

In this report ‘children’s participation’ refers to children taking part and their voices being listened to in one of three ways: inform; consult or involve2. These categories, taken from the OCC’s Wheel of Participation (see page 12), describe how children may engage in the decisions that affect their lives. The foundation for meaningful participation of any type requires children to be well informed so they can take part in consultations and help shape decisions.

By ‘strategic’ decision-making we mean the process of assessing local health needs, identifying priorities and making plans for how health services are delivered in local areas.

This study has focused on high level strategic decisions about health services being made locally by health and wellbeing boards (HWBs), local authorities (LAs) and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), rather than decisions taken at the national level by policy makers and Parliament; or by specific service providers (such as hospitals). However, we anticipate that the findings and recommendations in this report will be applicable to policy makers; to both national and local health bodies, and to those directly providing health services.