Half a million babies have now been given an NHS number within moments of birth. The landmark was passed just ten months after the introduction of the NHS Numbers For Babies (NN4B) system by the NHS Information Authority.The new system allows midwives to request a unique NHS number for every baby shortly after they are born. Before its introduction NHS numbers were issued at civil registration by Registrars of Births and Deaths, up to six weeks after birth. The authority believes this is important as, it says, the NHS number is the link that allows joined up healthcare from the word go.Newborn babies undergo a great many tests and a significant number of babies need extra healthcare, which can be administered across different departments or even hospitals. Newborn hearing tests, for example, began in 2001 and over 40 areas of England have already started offering screening tests within a few days of birth. The electronic transfer of information, using the NHS number as the enabler, means hearing test professionals, based at each NHS facility, can be notified of a birth almost immediately, ensuring that baby has his or her hearing tested by a new, painless and more effective procedure before they leave hospital. The system also ensures maximum screening coverage, more accurate records and less time spent on data entry, making sure babies with hearing impairments are not missed.

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The Children’s Interagency Group is calling for the Green Paper on children’s services – due to be published shortly – to begin a national debate on ways of working together more effectively across all professions and sectors to improve children’s lives and children’s services. The group is made up from the Association of Chief Education Officers, the Association of Directors of Social Services, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, The Confederation of Education Service Managers, the Connaught Group, the Local Government Association, the Metropolitan Police, the National Children’s Bureau, NCH, NCVCCO, the NHS Confederation, NSPCC and SOLACE – the local government’s chief executives’ association.Setting out its expectations for the Green Paper it stresses that local councils and their partner agencies, alongside children and their families are best placed to develop responses that suit local needs and local con ditions. It believes the Green Paper will offer a unique opportunity to look ahead and reflect on what children’s services should be and to help ensure that every child in Britain has an equal chance, putting children at the heart of society. The agencies say they expect that the Green Paper will assert the distinctive contributions of all the professions involved in the care and protection of children.

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By Rick Groves, Alan Middleton, Alan Murie and Kevin Broughton Much has been written about neighbourhoods that do not work with the focus on failing estates. The continuing success and popularity of Birmingham’s 100-year-old Bournville Village Trust estate, a neighbourhood that does work, holds important lessons for policy makers and practitioners struggling to improve the quality of life for less popular neighbourhoods and estates. The authors outline the factors that make it successful.