CHILD HEALTH SURVEILLANCE IN ENGLAND AND WALES - THE GOOD-NEWS

Postal surveys were conducted in 1993 among all, or samples of, six gr oups of providers and managers of pre-school child health surveillance (CHS) in England and Wales. Content analyses were also carried out of strategic policy statements for CHS produced by 54 district health au thorities in England and Wales. The surveys aimed to document the view s and experiences of CHS providers and managers about the impact of re cent changes affecting the structure and operation of CHS, including t he publication of Health for All Children, the 1990 Contract for Gener al Practitioners (GPs), the implementation of the National Health Serv ice and Community Care Act 1990, and the changing roles of community d octors and health visitors. Five positive findings from the surveys ar e discussed: the impact of the first edition of Health for All Childre n; improvements in the development and use of child health information systems; the beneficial effects of the growing involvement of GPs in CHS; the developing understanding of, and commitment to, the principle of clinical audit in CHS; and the growing collaboration between provi ders in the NHS internal market. A separate paper reports the negative findings from the study.