We’re failing our children on health prevention – and it’s costing us all

Imagine waiting six months for essential healthcare. Now imagine you're two years old. In that time, your brain is rapidly developing, your motor skills are forming and your ability to engage with the world is taking shape. A six-month delay at that stage isn’t just inconvenient, it can be life-defining. 

Yet across the UK, children are waiting months, sometimes up to three years, for life-changing support which would help them grow, thrive and achieve their potential. These delays don’t just affect individual children and families - they ripple out across society, impacting education, mental health and even our future economy. If we’re serious about prevention in healthcare, we need to start with children. 

Prevention is a buzzword in health circles. Politicians promise to reduce hospital admissions, cut waiting lists and encourage healthier lifestyles. But too often, these efforts focus on adults and rely on ‘nudge’ strategies: gentle suggestions to eat better, move more, or seek help earlier.  

The truth is, nudges are not a substitute for structural change. If we want real progress, we need to legislate for prevention, not just suggest it. We all wear seatbelts in cars and avoid smoking in certain locations thanks to legislation. 

Prevention is notoriously hard to measure. How do you prove something didn’t happen? How do you quantify the crisis that was avoided? 

Occupational therapists are already working in prevention every day. They help children develop the skills they need to thrive, keep people in work and help reduce the likelihood of someone going back into hospital after being discharged. But this work is often invisible, underfunded and undervalued. 

The UK government’s prevention agenda is overwhelmingly adult-focused. It’s about weight-loss drugs, early diagnostics and healthy eating. But this misses a crucial point: prevention starts in childhood. 

If we’re serious about prevention, we need to start with children. 

Children are our future adults. Supporting them at the first possible opportunity means fewer health problems later, less of a strain on services and ultimately a more productive society. With birth rates falling and an ageing population growing, we simply won’t have enough people to support our older generations unless today’s children grow up healthy and economically active. 

Delayed support in childhood can have lifelong consequences. An unsupported developmental delay or physical disability can affect a child’s ability to learn, play, socialise and eventually, work.  

The Care Act already includes a requirement for prevention, and occupational therapists have a statutory role in assessing needs and promoting wellbeing. But this isn’t enough. Prevention needs to be embedded in the NHS’s legal framework, not just as a vague aim, but as a core principle. 

The NHS Statement of Purpose, which outlines the values and responsibilities of the health service, doesn’t currently include prevention as a standalone principle. This is a missed opportunity. If prevention were a legal requirement, services would be designed differently: from the ground up, with early intervention at their heart. 

We need a legal requirement that recognises the statutory role of health professionals in prevention, especially in children’s services. Although legislation is only one lever, it influences where finances are invested and how the workforce is deployed. This, in turn, drives cultural change, ensuring support is timely, consistent and properly funded. It would also help shift the system away from crisis management and towards long-term wellbeing. 

To make prevention work, we also need to rethink how care is delivered. The current medical hospital model, focused on diagnosing and treating illness, is essential, but health in the community is much broader. In the community, we need a social model of care that looks at the whole person: their environment, their relationships and their purpose.  

Occupational therapy is built on this holistic approach. The principles of social justice are about keeping people ‘healthy, happy, housed and hired’ and for children, supporting them in school, at home, to grow, thrive and enjoy life.   

You can’t treat a child’s asthma effectively if they live in a damp home. You can’t support mental health without addressing poverty, isolation or housing. Prevention means tackling these root causes, not just the symptoms. 

There’s cross-party support for a shift to prevention. Everyone agrees the NHS is overstretched and unsustainable in its current form. But simply moving hospital services into communities won’t work.  

We need a different model: one that prioritises early intervention, social justice and holistic care.  Positioned across education, health and social care, occupational therapy offers that model. But it needs recognition, investment and legislative backing. With the Schools White paper expected to reshape SEND provision and statutory support, now is the moment to embed prevention and early intervention into health legislation and education policy. If every school had access to occupational therapy expertise, teaching staff would be supported to identify emerging needs, adopt strategies for the classroom and minimise the risk of challenges escalating.  

If we want a healthier, more resilient society, we must start with our children. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the only way forward.