2.1 The following core principles of good health care apply in implementing this guidance:
- health assessments and health plans will promote the current and future health of the child or young person who is looked after and not focus solely on the detection of ill-health. Health assessments will cover a range of issues beyond those of physical health which include developmental health and emotional wellbeing;
- the individual child or young person should be at the centre of the process of health assessment, planning, intervention and review. Each child or young person will be given the opportunity at all stages to express their wishes and concerns and these should be listened to. Health professionals should conduct health assessments in a way that enables and empowers children and young people to take appropriate responsibility for their own health;
- health assessments and services for children and young people who are looked after should be sensitive to age, gender, disability, race, culture and language. They should be nondiscriminatory and promote equality of access to services;
- the CSSR must fulfil the role of an active concerned parent in promoting and monitoring the child or young person's health and development and should, where possible and appropriate, actively involve the child or young person's birth parents;
- children and young people who are looked after should have
"timely"
access to services in accord with their significantly increased need for health care compared with their peers, and the access problems caused by their greater mobility; - the child or young person's informed consent to all health care and treatment should be actively sought and recorded in a way appropriate to the child or young person's age and understanding;
- assessments should be conducted within a standardised and systematic framework. A protocol should be used to assess physical health, but consideration should also be given to the use of validated and reliable instruments with which to assess development, disability, learning difficulty and the need for mental health services.
