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Children’s health is facing a deadly crisis, with life-threatening illnesses, obesity, eating disorders, and infectious diseases soaring, a shock new government report reveals.
Sir Keir Starmer is blaming the Conservatives for a “broken NHS” and claims the Tories’ NHS reforms are “unforgivable and “hopelessly misconceived”.
The shocking findings on the deteriorating health of the nation’s children are revealed in a study by leading cancer surgeon and former health minister, Lord Darzi.
He is raising the alarm bell on issues including:
• Falling vaccination rates for key childhood vaccinations – some declining for a decade – making measles and other infectious diseases more common;
• Prescriptions for ADHD medication for children and young people up 10% in the past year;
• Hospital admissions for children and young people with eating disorders up 82% since 2019-20;
• Children from most deprived backgrounds are now twice as likely to be obese by age five, and one in three children is obese by 11 in the poorest communities;
• Life-threatening and life-limiting conditions among children are up 40% in the past 20 years.
“Too many are being let down,” Lord Darzi says in his report.
“Childhood is precious because it is brief; too many children are spending too much of it waiting for care. It is apparent that the NHS must do better,” he adds.
Lord Darzi’s report for Health Secretary Wes Streeting also reveals that more than 100,000 infants up to the age of two were left waiting for more than six hours in A&E departments in England last year.
He found a 60% rise in waiting times for that age group over the past 15…
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