National service framework for children: Framework ignores children's growth

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7476.1239-a

BMJ 2004;329:1239 (20 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7476.1239-a

Letter

National service framework for children

Framework ignores children's growth

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The Child Growth Foundation finds it unbelievablethat the national service framework for children, in the editorialby Lachman and Vickers,¹ ignores the need to check a child'sgrowth, either routinely or opportunistically, other than atschool entry.

The assessment of growth should be a basic paediatric measurethroughout a child's growing years, and Health for all Children,for all its woes, agrees that it should be considered at everyhealth contact. When the framework fails to list any requirementto measure weight, length, or occipitofrontal circumferencein the first four years of a child's life, one can be forgivenfor thinking that no one in the Department of Health has anyknowledge of endocrinology.

Recommending a single growth check at school entry is fairlyuseless, too, since it shows only how tall, short, thin, orfat the child is on the day. It will not show . . . [Full text of this article]

Tam Fry, honorary chairman

Child Growth Foundation, London W4 1PW cgflondon@aol.com