Dear members Children who are CEV & vaccination advice Following our involvement in the development of the College's advice on children and young people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, I would like to highlight the College's recent statement on the COVID-19 vaccination programme. As you will be aware, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that those who are clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) and aged 16+ should be vaccinated as part of priority group 4, alongside those aged 70-74. JCVI's advice is available here. The College supports JCVI's approach on vaccine prioritisation, and we'd encourage you to follow that. It is essential that the programme is guided by evidence and we expect to see more safety and efficacy data gathered in the next few months that will inform vaccination strategies for groups not covered by this first phase (such as children and young people under 16 who are CEV). The RCPCH also wanted to flag with you that it...

BSPGHAN Council are delighted to announce that we have consolidated an affiliation with Frontline Gastroenterology. FG is an official publication of the British Society of Gastroenterology  and is a companion journal to Gut and BMJ Open Gastroenterology. Frontline Gastroenterology publishes articles that accelerate adoption of innovative and best practice in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology and clinical nutrition. Frontline Gastroenterology is especially interested in articles on multidisciplinary research and care, focusing on both retrospective assessments of novel models of care as well as putative future directions of best practice. The journal also publishes articles in the domains of clinical quality, patient experience, service provision and medical education. This arrangement offers an exciting opportunity for BSPGHAN members to receive Free access to the online publication as a benefit of membership. Access is via the secure member area on the BSPGHAN website-...

Dear members, Please accept our very best wishes for 2021 to you all from all on BSPGHAN council.As we enter the third national lockdown, with surges of cases of the new variant of Covid19 and rates of transmission high nationally, government has issued guidance on shielding for adults. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19 Importantly, since the first wave, our knowledge of COVID-19 has grown. We now know that very few children and young people are at highest risk of severe illness due to the virus. This means that the National Guidance for children and young people issued December 21 is current at the time of writing and I hope that it is useful for you to review it here- https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/covid-19-guidance-clinically-extremely-vulnerable-children-young-people The RCPCH guidance sets out that the...

Dear members Wishing you all good health and companionship in the festive season. 2020 has been especially difficult for so many families, organisations and our social and healthcare. The year has however been notable for positivity -  the many acts of kindness shown by supporting each other and for people coming together with shared learning experiences. Covid 19 continues to create so many challenges for us. I would like to give a personal thanks to BSPGHAN Council and Working Groups and our charitable partners for the rapid advice produced for our families. Thank you to Executive Lucy and Mansoor, and to Carla for all your support this year. The pandemic has amplified difficulties faced by those with vulnerabilities and those who are most at risk from anxiety, homelessness or loss of work. There is  much to do in 2021 to tackle disadvantage and support the mental well-being of our communities. We all look forward to what 2021 will bring- collectively moving to a time...

COVID-19 - guidance on clinically extremely vulnerable children and young people More evidence has emerged that shows there is a very low risk of children becoming very unwell from COVID-19, even for children with existing health conditions. Most children originally identified as clinically extremely vulnerable no longer need to follow this advice. The RCPCH has been reviewing the evidence base around the impact of Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection on children and young people with comorbidities which has been developing over time.  They have worked with paediatric specialties to review this evidence and advise on which children and young people are at the highest risk of severe disease due to Covid-19 infection because they are ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ (CEV).  Those children whose doctors have confirmed they are still clinically extremely vulnerable are advised not to attend school while this advice is in place. Children who live with someone who is clinically extremely...