Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve children's facilities in hospitals.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever across the United Kingdom. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it. To make children’s services better, we are changing the National Health Service through our 10-Year Health Plan, to make it fit for the future. The plan will be published in June 2025.

Health is a devolved matter, and it is the responsibility of the individual devolved administrations to commission comprehensive healthcare based on population need.

Guidance has been provided to the NHS on the provision of children’s facilities in hospitals in the best practice guidance, Hospital accommodation for children and young people, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HBN_23.pdf

NHS England has work currently ongoing with the Starlight Foundation to produce recommended guidelines, standards, and checklists for designing health play services for babies, children, and young people.