HEALTH FOR ALL CHILDREN 4: GUIDANCE ON IMPLEMENTATION IN SCOTLAND 2005

Ministerial Foreword

Children and young people deserve the best possible start in life, and we have a responsibility to give them that opportunity. That means providing effective support for parents and carers, early identification and intervention when there are problems, and action to help children and young people make healthy choices for a lifetime. And crucially, it means integrated working - working together and sharing expertise to meet the global needs of individual children and their families.

The fourth edition of Health for All Children provides a framework for connecting the range of different policies and spheres of activity that support children and young people's health and development in the early years and beyond. It sets out a clear core programme of child health contacts that every family can expect, wherever they live in Scotland. But it also recognises that individual families are different, and that we must be flexible and innovative if we want to ensure that all families are able to access and benefit from the advice, support and services that are available to them.

I warmly welcome implementation of Health for All Children in Scotland, which I believe offers a great opportunity to use the skills and expertise of a range of professionals to link effective child health promotion, prevention and care. I am enormously grateful to the Child Health Support Group Reference Group members for their valuable input to the development of this guidance.

Rhona Brankin
Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care