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Court Report (1976) Fit for the Future (text) |
The Court Report (1976) Fit for the Future Report of the Committee on Child Health Services London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1976
Background notes Why the Court Report? If you're wondering why a report about child health services should be on an education website, consider these quotes: The connection between health and education is one of the most important aspects of paediatrics. Educational failure should be recognised early and requires precise diagnosis just as much as physical disease, for many difficulties at school could be anticipated before school begins. The connection between low birthweight, nutrition and the development of intelligence has been investigated. So also has the connection between attainment and the size of the family to which the child belongs. Yet in general our understanding of disorders of learning is still rudimentary and the problems of intellectual limitation, defective speech, inadequate reading ability, excessive clumsiness, disturbed behaviour, truancy, school phobia and delinquency create a formidable array of disability. These problems will yield only to the combined efforts of doctors, teachers, psychologists and psychiatrists, social workers and others. Yet we found a good deal of evidence that as yet services were not disposed so as to cooperate in the interests of the child (Court page 11).And Growth and learning are of necessity connected. The child health and education services must see themselves as engaged to a large extent upon different aspects of a common task and our proposals urge and require the closest cooperation between them (page 145) Historical context The National Health Service, which had been created in 1948, was reorganised in 1974, providing 'fresh opportunities for providing an integrated service' (page 19). As part of the reorganisation, Sir Keith Joseph, then Secretary of State for Social Services in Ted Heath's Conservative government, appointed the Committee on Child Health Services, chaired by Professor Donald Court, to make recommendations regarding the needs of children and their parents.
Donald Court
After the war he conducted research in the Department of Child Health in the University of Durham, later becoming the first James Spence Professor of Child Health. In 1972, he became Emeritus Professor of Child Health in the University of Newcastle, and from 1973 to 1976 he was president of the British Paediatric Association (later the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health). During his time at Newcastle he was involved in the Thousand Families Study, a large and important epidemiological study, during which he visited more than 3000 families. As a result of the study he came to understand the importance of seeing the child as part of a network consisting of the family, the neighbourhood and the wider community. He was awarded the CBE in 1969 and the James Spence Medal of the British Paediatric Association in 1978, together with a number of honorary fellowships, including those of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. He married in 1939 and had a daughter and two sons. His retirement was marred by a serious head injury in 1986 from which he never fully recovered. (Information from this Wikipedia page.)
The report After working for three years, the committee submitted their report to the Secretaries of State for Social Services (David Ennals), Education and Science (Shirley Williams), and Wales (John Morris), in Jim Callaghan's Labour government. Their proposals aimed at a child-centred service which looks at the needs of children and their parents in the family and educational setting, which takes into account the changing pattern of child illness, combines all aspects of medicine and offers access through a single door (page 19).The report was published in two volumes: Volume 1 (online) contains the report itself; Volume 2 (not currently online) the Statistical Appendix. It contains many sets of initials, the meaning of which is not always obvious in the text. So here's a list of them all. If you find one I've missed, or you think I've got a meaning wrong, or you know the meaning of AHA(T) or HN, please let me know: contact details are here.
The above notes were prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 26 July 2024. 
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Court (1912-1994) (pictured) studied at the University of Birmingham and then worked in hospitals in Birmingham and London. During the second world war he was not conscripted (he was a Quaker) but served with the emergency medical services.
