6 Children's Health
6.1 The impact of parental substance misuse on the health of their children can vary from physical effects such as poor nutrition, blood-borne virus infections and incomplete immunisation, to a range of emotional, cognitive, behavioural and other psychological problems.
GPs, Primary Care Teams ( PCTs) and health visitors are a key source for identifying and supporting children and young people in these circumstances, because they are most likely to come into contact with children at an early age. This means they hold a number of key routes for identifying vulnerable children.
Key issues in relation to children's health Best practice means: - identification of vulnerable children early by PCTs and responding to their needs, or when children and/or parents access specialist health services, e.g. Accidents & Emergencies, mental health services;
- ensuring that child and adolescent mental health services are child-friendly and able to engage effectively with children and young people; and
- recognition by services of the impact of caring on a young person's health.
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6.2 Key Action Points
The Executive will undertake the following action to promote best practice in relation to children's health. We will:
- invest a further £1m in workforce development across the network of children's services to enhance capacity for recognising, understanding and addressing mental health issues in children and young people. Funding is committed until March 2008;
- work with NHS Boards and local authorities to examine how the availability of contraceptives and family planning advice for substance misusers can be improved within the context of implementing the Executive's 2005 report "Respect and Responsibility" - autumn 2006;
- work with NHS Boards to require healthcare professionals to collect information about dependent children of substance misusing patients as part of the contract specification. The information to be collected should mirror the data collected for the expanded Scottish Drug Misuse Database;
- establish incentives for GP practices to put in place protocols so that young carers will be put in contact with local support services and support agencies - 2006-2007;
- establish key performance indicators to monitor and ensure progress on implementation of the Executive's 2005 report on "The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care" - 2006;
- continue to work with "HeadsUpScotland", our national project for children's and young people's mental health, to support local areas in implementing "The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care" - ongoing;
- monitor and support consistent implementation of the Executive's 2005 guidance - "Health for All Children" (Hall 4) - by 2008; and
- promote a greater understanding and recognition by Children and Adolescent Mental Health ( CAMH) services that mental health issues for children are often linked to parental substance misuse.