Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the rates at which children born preterm receive follow-up health and developmental assessments at ages (a) two and (b) four.

We are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. To help deliver this, we are strengthening health visiting services, which are responsible for monitoring and assessing the health and development of children aged zero to five years old, including preterm children, as well as referring them to other professionals wherever needed.

In 2023, 77% of preterm children at two years old received a follow up assessment, up from 68.4% in 2020. However, further work is required to achieve the National Neonatal Audit Programme standard of 90%, and integrated care systems and local providers are expected to be working towards full implementation of the guidelines set. Further data relating to babies discharged from neonatal care is available in the National Neonatal Audit Programme Summary report on 2023, at the following link:

https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/NNAP-summary-report-2023-data

For children aged four years old, the data we possess on the percentage of children who received a follow-up assessment is inconsistent and unclear. This is because there is no inclusion of the requirement for follow-up assessments for children aged four years old in the NHS Standard Contract, and therefore which services and requirements fall under community paediatric services is for local determination.