The National Health Service Act 1948 was last amended in 2006; it was launched by the NHS in 1948. It aimed for healthcare to be provided based on the need of people rather than the ability to pay. According to Health and Social Care and the Law, “The National Health Service Act 1948 provided people in Britain with free diagnosis and treatment of illness, at home or in hospital”. This means that this amendment have brought in free prescriptions, glasses and dental care. This encourages parents to take their children to the doctors, opticians and dentist because they do not have to pay any fee. When children are brought here from an early age it will become part of their routine and they will be encouraged to carry on visiting the doctors and dentist through their life from an early age, this will protect children from many viruses, diseases and the very common tooth decay. As a practitioner it is my role to ensure that I encourage children to clean their teeth and go to the dentist and doctors regularly. In my primary school setting, we once went on a visit to our local dentists where the children were allowed to sit in the chair and get their teeth quickly examined by the doctor, they then had a healthy snack to promote healthy food and teeth care and then they were shown many pictures of tooth decay and the effect of sugar on their teeth. Visits such as this can help myself and practitioners promote a healthy lifestyle for children so they take care of their bodies, teeth and eyes by having regular visits to their National Health Services. Although the NHS provides free hospital, dental and eye care there are some negative views, for example the NHS takes a long time for appointments and operations to be booked as a large proportion of Britain is waiting for them, but private doctors that are not free are much quicker than this, so some people choose to pay for their prescriptions and operations.
The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 was adopted by the United Nations and assembled in 1989 and then ratified by the UK in 1991. According to Health and Social Care and the Law, “It is an agreement on human rights that clearly states that children are entitled to rights and that governments are obliged to fulfil those rights”. It has many different articles, but article 24 states that all children have the right to good health and good quality health care and that all children should have clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that they stay healthy. This legislation means that parents and schools must legally provide a healthy lifestyle for children. As a practitioner it is my role to promote this healthy lifestyle by following legislation and acting as a role model, by eating healthy food and snacks with the children and keeping the environment clean. Initiatives such as the Healthy Weight, Healthy lives and the Healthy School Initiative have been introduced to ensure every child is provided with clean water and nutritious food daily and if children begin to drink water instead of fizzy drinks from an early age then they will continue to drink water throughout their life which is much better for their teeth and bodies. [E8] Although every child is different and may like a different fruit or vegetable, so a large variety must be provided and this can be very expensive. According to Health and Social Care and the Law, “Children under the ages of 18 years should be treated equally within society, regardless of their race, colour, language, sex, religion, disability, origin, political or other opinion, property, birth or any other status”. This means that every child is different but they must be treated equally no matter where they come from.
According to Tassoni et al (2007: 7) “The Children's Act 1989 states that families should be respected and given support with their children, the carers of the children must follow this law and many other legal requirements as the parents have the right to be consulted in decisions concerning their children's education.” This Act promotes care of the child as paramount. The aim of this act is to protect children in every situation – in their homes or full time care - from things such as neglect, abuse and exploitation. According to Direct Gov. “This provides a range of services to ‘children in need’ in their area if those services will help keep a child safe and well”. This legislation allows parents to claim help if it is needed by services provided for children who are in need as they have a disability. This allows children who are disabled to be treated equally a life a normal healthy lifestyle as they are provided with assistance in and outside of school to help their learning and development. As a practitioner I must ensure that a treat all children equally regardless of disability, for example they are all entitled to a physical exercise to allow them to stay healthy. This is good because it allows children with a seeing or hearing impairment to be assigned a professional to communicate with them so they can continue their lifestyle to fully develop and to enjoy and achieve. Although some schools may not have the requirements to suit a disabled person such as ramps or lifts so a disabled child may have to be taken to another school.
The Childcare Act 2006 act states that local authorities must improve outcomes for children under the age of five; they must take lead role to meet the needs of working parents, especially those on low incomes or with disabled children. The Childcare Act 2006 introduced the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) this is what settings use as curriculum framework. It has been put together by using what is known about how young children’s development and learning and how to provide a range of varied learning experiences to help promote all children's development within different areas. The framework is based on the principles that every child is unique and therefore it is used to guide practitioners in personalising learning for the individual children they care for. According to Beaver et al (2008:20) “The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was introduced to support the delivery of quality integrated education and care for children from birth to five.” This legislation has also introduced a variety of different initiatives to allow children to lead a healthy lifestyle, for example “A Sure Start Children’s Centre in every community providing or giving access to services for young children, designed around their needs, including health and employment support” According to Derby City Council. This legislation offer’s many aspects to keep children living a healthy lifestyle, for example children now must have a set amount of outside play for exercise each week, this will allow them to stay fit and build up muscle as well as getting a lot of fresh air. Children will be used to physical exercise and will continue to love to be out in the fresh air daily and this may even make them walk or run to school and work in the future instead of taking a car. Although for children to get stimulating outdoor play, schools must have the correct amount of outdoor space and equipment and some schools do not have sufficient space, also many risk assessments may be carried out before taking the children anywhere out door, even in the playground.
