Rewiring healthcare around childhood
In the Thinking Differently webinar “Re-Wiring Healthcare Around Childhood,” Naeem Younis, Founder of Strasys, opened with a stark reality: 80% of lifetime health is shaped before 18, yet children receive less than 10% of healthcare spending. Spending on children’s services has fallen 25% since 2010 and one in three children live in poverty, costing £39 billion every year. The panel brought together leaders from children’s trusts, youth advocacy, and system design to explore how to rewire the NHS around children’s needs.
Naeem Younis
Founder and CEO, Strasys
The case for investing in childhood
Naeem exposed a reality too often overlooked: investing in children is not just a moral duty, it is the smartest economic decision a nation can make. Every pound invested in childhood returns £13 to society. Yet children make up a quarter of the population and receive less than 10% of healthcare spending. He made a rallying call for leaders in policy, healthcare, commissioning, and regulation to rethink how resources are allocated. This connects directly to the Alder Hey programme of population-centric reform.
Dani Jones
Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer, Alder Hey Children’s NHS FT
Building the architecture around children’s needs
Dani Jones, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, stressed the importance of improving children’s data and building the right architecture to rewire the NHS around their needs. Too often, children are treated as an afterthought within an adult-focused system. They require system governance that recognises their lives are shaped far more by schools, communities, and families than by hospitals. Initiatives such as the Beyond Programme in Cheshire and Merseyside show what is possible when governance is built around children’s voices, delivering measurable impact from addressing obesity and oral health to improving specialised care.
Prof Steve Turner
Consultant Paediatrician
Clinical pathways that put children first
Prof Steve Turner shared examples from NHS111, Glasgow and Aberdeen showing that involving experienced clinicians early can smooth children’s journeys through the system, improve outcomes, and reduce waiting times. But clinicians alone cannot solve these challenges: true progress requires linked data, collaboration across sectors, and placing children’s needs at the centre of service design. By acting together now, we can not only improve child health today but secure the health and wellbeing of the next generation.
£13
returned to society for every £1 invested in childhood
25%
fall in children’s services spending since 2010
1 in 3
children in the UK live in poverty
Key takeaways
Actively involve young people. Ensure diversity. Think child-first in all decisions. Track progress. Reshape care around the needs of children and young people, listening to them at every stage. Children cannot wait.
If your organisation is still treating children as an afterthought within an adult-focused system, a short conversation can clarify how population intelligence and system redesign could reshape care around the needs of children and families. No pitch. Just a practical starting point.
Further reading: Reimagining care for children at Alder Hey. Strasys and Alder Hey partnership.
Questions leaders ask about children’s healthcare
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80% of lifetime health is shaped before 18. Every pound invested in childhood returns £13 to society. Yet children receive less than 10% of healthcare spending. Investing in children’s services is the smartest economic decision a health system can make. Population intelligence helps identify where to focus.
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Children require system governance that recognises their lives are shaped by schools, communities, and families. This means building integrated systems with children’s voices at the centre, connecting data across health, education, and social care. Alder Hey’s Vision 2030 demonstrates this approach.
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Prof Sir Muir Gray identifies four types: waste left after a job has been done; waste due to low productivity; waste when interventions fail to achieve outcomes that matter; and waste due to opportunity costs where resources would produce more value elsewhere.
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Spending on children’s services has fallen 25% since 2010. One in three children live in poverty, costing £39bn every year. Every pound invested returns £13. Early intervention reduces demand on acute services, improves educational outcomes, and builds a healthier, more productive adult population. Decision Intelligence helps quantify this value.