Introducing the Atlas

For the first time, variations across the breadth of child health services provided by NHS England are presented together to allow clinicians, commissioners and service users to identify priority areas for improving outcome, quality and productivity.

Variations in healthcare exist for many legitimate reasons. Populations and individuals have distinct needs, and some of the variation observed is a reflection of the responsiveness of the service to meeting particular needs. However, the degree of variation demonstrated in the Child Health Atlas cannot be explained solely on that basis. Unwarranted variations are driven not by the needs of the patient but by the limitations of the healthcare system and the healthcare professionals working within it.

Identifying and tackling unwarranted variations in healthcare will improve both the quality and efficiency of the care provided, and deliver the best possible health outcomes for all children and young people.

Dr Sheila Shribman
National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services

Related Resources

Young epilepsy

Young Epilepsy provides information, education and training about epilepsy for young people, their families and the professionals working with them.  They can also assist commissioners and clinicians in reviewing the epilepsy services they provide.

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

The Child Health section of the RCPCH website deals with standards of care for children, including: information for parents and carers; clinical standards; research; paediatric service redesign; child protection; and how we involve children, young people and families in our work

About ChiMat

ChiMat provides information and intelligence which will help you examine and address questions which the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young People may raise for your local area.

For example, ChiMat’s Disease Management Information Toolkit (DMIT) allows PCTs to compare their emergency admission rates, bed-days and lengths of stay with a range of different comparators for children with asthma, diabetes and epilepsy. It is designed to highlight variations at PCT level and allow benchmarking to inform the commissioning decision-making process for children’s services.

Other useful tools include:

• ChiMat Data Atlas which brings together a range of data and statistics on child and maternal health into one easily accessible hub.
• Local Authority Child Health Profiles 2012 which provide a snapshot of child health and well-being for each local authority in England using key health indicators, which enables comparison locally, regionally and nationally

Atlas Case Studies

Two case studies for the Child Health Atlas demonstrate practical steps to reduce un-warranted variation locally:

Case-study 1: Yorkshire and Humber Paediatric
Diabetes Network

Case-study 2: Emergency admissions for epilepsy in
children – work in Luton Primary Care Trust