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FOREWORD
Children and young people are the very foundation of the society we live in and have featured prominently in the work of the Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament since its inception. Against that background the Minister for Health and Community Care, in 2004, asked the Child Health Support Group (now the Children and Young People's Health Support Group ( CYPHSG)) to develop this Action Framework with the intention that it capture, in one document, the key actions required to meet the challenges for children and young people's health in 21st Century Scotland.
The intervening period has seen the publication of two major documents - Building a Health Service Fit for the Future and the Scottish Executive's response Delivering for Health - both of which reflect significant input from the CYPHSG and others working in child health. The recommendations emerging from these streams of work have played a significant part in shaping this draft Framework which we are now pleased to circulate for comment.
In publishing this draft we have been very aware of the breadth of the child health agenda and the extent to which the health of the next generation is crucially dependent on the activities of a wide range of Government Departments, Local Authority agencies and other services working in areas such as Education, Social Care, Health Improvement and Justice. Integrated children's services planning and the proposals in Getting it Right for Every Child will also help in ensuring that the needs of the child are at the centre of local service planning and delivery. The appointment of the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People provides an opportunity for the views of children to be listened to more closely in the future.
The CYPHSG fully recognises this wider dimension and the need, beyond the publication of this Framework, to ensure the effective collaboration of all parties engaged in pursuing the health and well-being of our children and young people.
It is also important that this Framework incorporates those actions that will most realistically and effectively progress children and young people's health and health services over the next few years. To that end we look forward to receiving the comments on this draft, of those who use and those who provide services, in order that the implementation of the Action Framework enjoys widespread and committed support.
Malcolm Wright
Chair
Children and Young People's Health Support Group
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