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The Chair's Summer Update

Summer arrived with a full agenda for children and young people’s urgent and emergency care. Autumn is round the corner and looks equally packed kicking off with the PERUKI/APEM conference in September.


This update brings together the main areas of progress across the child advocacy and policy spaces since spring and highlights where members can get involved. We include a small snap shot of the upcoming academic and educational opportunities and the ongoing stakeholder work shaping the next phase of care for children and young people.


Advocacy Updates - e-scooters and social media

Screen time, the related harms of social media and more generally unsafe internet use remains a key area of concern for APEM and the wider paediatric community. We have been at the forefront of national discussions and fully support Sir Keir Starmer's announcement in early summer around introducing a social media ban. For more information please see our June Blog.


We have also been delighted that the work of Dr Charlotte Durand from Alderhey, with the team at RCEM, has generated a clear position statement around the use of e-scooters by young people. No one will be a stranger to the increased injuries presenting relating to e-scooters and the body of evidence is now compelling. This statement provides a clear ask to this government about needed next steps and full details can be accessed here.


Close-up view of a child’s cycle helmet beside an e-scooter wheel on a quiet pavement.

We can't wait to see lots of you in Southampton in September for our APEM/PERUKI conference. Tickets are sold now sold out! If you are coming, then do join us for a social - you can sign up here.


PEM trainee conference 2026

In July, PEM residents from across the UK gathered in Bristol for the 2026 Paediatric Emergency Medicine Trainee Conference. It was a day packed with talks covering a variety of topics from neonatal retrieval, to conflict injuries in children, endometriosis in adolescents, and many more in between.


Other highlights included keynote presentations from Dr Dan Magnus and Dr Ian Higginson on trauma team leading and having a sustainable career in PEM respectively. There was also a talk on psychological safety in the paediatric ED with an acknowledgement of the sometimes very difficult nature of our work.

All attendees were encouraged to join in for an interactive session on common fracture management in the ED. The day was rounded off with the top scoring abstract presentations - a high standard across the board but special mention to James Neal and Alex Dodd our prize winners.

Key resources shared included:


Are you working to improve the care of CYPSAR patients?

APEM fully endorse the intercollegiate standards produced by the International Child Health Group around the care for children and young people seeking asylum and refugees (CYPSAR). An amazing session to help upskill and understand this vulnerable patient group is being offered in Manchester 5th October.


The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit has long played an important role in helping clinicians and researchers understand rare childhood conditions and emerging health issues. Surveillance work can feel distant from the pressure of a busy shift, but it provides the evidence base that allows the system to see patterns that single centres cannot. For the first time a multiyear report has been issued by RCPCH and work many of us will have contributed too around the dangers of button battery and magnet ingestion is a key feature. Check the full details here.


The State of Child Health 2026 report makes for sombre reading and highlights the decline in children's health across the four nations. APEM fully endorses the recommendations to government and will continue to advocate to improve heath equity across our nations.

APEM's close collaboration with PERUKI continues to ensure the paediatric emergency care questions are answered. If you want help to start contributing further to generating these answers CATCH could help.


The Clinical Academic Training and Careers Hub, known as CATCH, is a valuable resource for anyone exploring clinical academic training. It is designed to help healthcare professionals understand routes into research and academic practice, from early curiosity to more formal training pathways.


CATCH does not only support early years doctors but also provides advice for post CCT opportunities and is well worth exploring for any one interested in exploring an academic career.

 Clinical Academic Training and Careers Hub

APEM is committed to maintaining an active voice to ensure health services are accountable for providing excellent standards of care to children and young people. We will be excited to respond to the upcoming BCYP (Babies, Children and Young People) Modern Framework report due later this Autumn which Dr Charlotte Clements (APEM Chair) offers perspective in the clinical oversight group.


Charlotte and others are currently working alongside the wider GIRFT team in a pilot study looking specifically at Children and Young People's Urgent and Emergency Care services. GIRFT work is most useful when it combines data with the lived reality of clinical services. Numbers can show variation, but teams can explain why it exists and what could safely change. That matters in paediatrics, where demand patterns, staffing models, short stay provision, mental health pressures, safeguarding needs, and local geography all affect care. It is also vital that our services are considered separately from adult care delivery and is refreshing to see the wider sector take note of this important division.

RCPCH 2027 is now open for abstract submission; don't miss the opportunity to showcase your work in the biggest paediatric conference in the UK. Closes 6th Sept!


RCPCH is currently actively recruiting paediatricians, neonatologists, paediatric and neonatal nurses and midwives for their Global Links Programme in Nepal. There are numerous ways to get involved with this amazing project which don't all involve prolonged oversees work.  


That's a busy summer of news and there are lots of things we haven't had time to mention. We are excited to see many of you at the PERUKI/APEM Conference in Southampton in September, if you haven't already booked for the social be sure to sign up.


That's all for now.

Please keep an eye out for a relaunch of our social media platforms ahead of conference in September!


Best wishes to All

Charlotte and the APEM Team




 
 
 

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