I am truly passionate about improving the lives of children and young people and have been working to improve health and care services in north central London (NCL) for nearly 15 years. Having two daughters who attend school and nursery in Barnet, it is both a professional and personal privilege to lead the CYP workstream as part of our sustainability and transformation partnership in NCL.
Asthma is a key priority for the North London Partners in health and care as it affects one in ten children. The aim of our programme is to support children, young people and families with asthma to receive the appropriate treatment, at the right time, in the right place and to enable them to remain as well as possible.
The task at hand is not insignificant, and whilst health agencies are working hard to improve asthma services for children and young people, to really make a sustained difference, a system response is required. Across North London Partners, a range of partner agencies (including public health, local authorities, education and housing) have come together to tackle these compounding issues including smoking, damp housing and air pollution.
I am sure there is something we could all do to support this important work, from supporting smoking cessation in our communities to looking at ways we can reduce our impact on air pollution both personally and organisationally, so that together we can improve the outcomes for children and young people across north central London.