Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS Providers on (a) replacing did not attend with was not brought when children and young people miss appointments and (b) ensuring that when a child or young person is not brought to an appointment both the referrer and the family are notified and there is a process for following-up.

This is a matter for the local National Health Service. Each health organisation should have information sharing protocols in place for when a child or young person misses or does not attend a planned appointment. This information should be held as part of the child’s record and communicated directly to the child’s registered general practice and targeted health services, such as health visiting, school nursing or child and adolescent mental health services.

There are mechanisms available within health services to flag such issues. This may depend on the individual case and the significance of the appointment due to be attended, for example, a child not attending for chemotherapy or dialysis may be deemed to be at significant risk.