The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), through its trading subsidiary British Paediatric Services Ltd, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Harlow Printing Limited (trading as Harlow Solutions) to explore the development of a Digital Personal Child Health Record.
The proposed digital product would sit alongside the printed Personal Child Health Record, widely known as the Red Book, which has been used by parents and carers across the UK to track their child’s health and development since the 1980s. The new digital offer would comprise a parent/carer-facing mobile app and a clinical back-office web application, giving families and health professionals a modern, connected way to record and access a child’s early health information.
The MoU builds on RCPCH and Harlow Printing’s existing relationship and establishes a framework for moving from an agreement in principle towards a formal development and commercial agreement. Development is expected to take around nine months from commencement, with pilot activity to be agreed before any public launch.
Professor Steve Turner, RCPCH President, said: “The Red Book is one of the simplest and most enduring tools we have to record early child health and wellbeing. This parent/carer-held resource records growth from birth to school age, developmental milestones, vaccinations and clinical encounters in one place that parents can turn to and professionals can trust.
“With our recent State of Child Health report showing child health outcomes worsening, it is vital we make it as easy as possible to keep track of a child’s progress. A digital version of the Red Book can allow quick access to records where the book isn’t to hand, and would enable rapid update to parents of important health information.”
