Child Health in England at Risk as NHS Waits Rise Sharply, Watchdog Warns

Thousands of children in England are facing some of the sharpest rises in waiting times in the history of the NHS, a new report has revealed. The annual state of care report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said that while some adult waiting times have improved, children and young people are being hit hardest amid soaring demand and falling staff numbers.

In community health services alone, 80,000 children and young people have been waiting more than a year for an appointment – almost 11 times the number of adults, the report said. Experts described that as wholly unacceptable.

The CQC said children's health conditions were getting worse and becoming harder to treat as a result of the long delays. Rapidly rising demand combined with falling numbers of staff was identified as a central pressure.

The picture was not the same across all health and social care. The report also noted signs of improvement, including more GP appointments, increased use of digital solutions and shorter waits for elective care. Examples of local innovation, including neighbourhood models and integrated care teams, were also highlighted.

But the CQC judged that improvements were struggling to keep pace with rapidly rising demand for health and social care. In many areas, including mental health services, patients' needs are also becoming more complex.

Persistent inequalities across the entire system mean people's experience of care is fractured and heavily dependent on where they live and who they are, according to the report. Across the country there was unwarranted variation in access, quality and outcomes, the CQC said.

Some adults with cancer were waiting far too long to begin treatment after diagnosis, while sustained pressure remained in urgent and emergency care, the report added.

For children the concerns were more specific. Despite growing demand, health visitor and school nurse numbers were continuing to decline, the CQC said. It also raised concerns about regional variations in children being admitted to hospital for diabetes and asthma, and high rates of rotten teeth among children in some areas.

Dr Ronny Cheung, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said community health services existed to support some of the country's most vulnerable children outside hospital, including those with complex conditions, developmental disorders and safeguarding needs.

Yet these children face some of the longest waits in the NHS, while waiting times for adult community services have improved, he said. More than one in four children still wait over a year for treatment, and without urgent action too many more will be left to suffer unnecessarily, he added, describing children struggling at school, families pushed to breaking point and conditions becoming more complex while they wait.

The CQC chair, Julia Neuberger, said that while some services were working well, improvements were not keeping pace with demand. To repair a fracturing system, there must be a collective response, she added.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the report showed the scale of the challenge the government inherited when it was elected in 2024. A spokesperson said that while the CQC recognises signs of progress on waiting lists, cancer care and general practice, patients and families rightly expect faster improvements – which is why the secretary of state has committed to go further to end corridor care, transform support for mothers and children, and deliver a new national care service.