RCPCH launches manifesto for Welsh children ahead of 2026 election

Before the Senedd election in May 2026, paediatricians are setting out what the next Welsh Government should do to improve child health.

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Wales is calling on all political parties to commit to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and ensure that all children in Wales have a safe, happy and healthy life.

The manifesto notes the significant deterioration of health and wellbeing amongst Welsh children, with inequalities mounting, health services struggling, and the paediatric workforce experiencing increasing rates of low-morale and burnout. The lack of focus and investment in children has resulted in Wales having some of the poorest health outcomes in Europe.

Data now shows that:

• 29% of children and young people in Wales are living in relative poverty
• 25% of 4–5-year-olds are classified as overweight
• 32% of 5-6 years old have tooth decay
• 1 in 6 children and young people have a mental health problem
• As of December 2024, there are 56,211 children and young people waiting for treatment.

In their newly published manifesto, RCPCH Wales outlines four key calls to a future Welsh Government to rectify this dire situation for children:

1. Empower the child health workforce: Attract, support and retain a workforce able to care for current and future generations.
2. Transform health services: Prioritise children’s health, happiness and wellbeing within the planning, funding and delivery of the NHS.
3. Embrace data and digital innovation: Revolutionise child health through data transparency and digitalisation, investment in IT infrastructure and facilitating record sharing across sectors.
4. Deliver for all: Ensure every child has an opportunity for a healthy life by mitigating the wider determinants of health.

Read the recommendations in full in RCPCH Wales’s manifesto, ‘Putting children first: Prioritising Wales’s future’.

RCPCH Officer for Wales, Dr Nick Wilkinson, said:

For too long and far too often, the needs of our children and young people have been ignored, overlooked and services that provide for them, underfunded. As a paediatrician I have seen first-hand the impact this is having on the overall health and wellbeing of our future generation.

In February 2024, we published Worried and Waiting which sought to draw attention to the fact paediatric waiting times have increased in Wales by 62% between 2016 and 2024. One year on from publication, the situation has deteriorated further with over 56 thousand children waiting for care. It is abundantly clear that urgent investment across the entire children’s workforce such as improved access to child health data and a greater focus on prevention as a form of intervention is urgently needed. In publishing our manifesto, we are giving the future Welsh government a clear path forward to right these wrongs by fully recovering health services for children and ensuring a healthier, fairer society for our future.

These solutions, which were carefully developed with insight from RCPCH Wales members and children and young people, set out why child health matters so much, and why we need to act now.

Putting Children First RCPCH Wales Manifesto

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