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A former president of the Association of Directors of Social Services has been appointed co-chairperson of an expert advisory group which will work with the newly appointed national director for children’s health care services,writes Jonathan Pearce.

National director Professor Al Aynsley-Green, whose appointment followed the Bristol Royal Infirmary inquiry into infant deaths after open-heart surgery, made the announcement at the department of health.

Jo Williams, Cheshire Council director of social services and ex-ADSS president, will co-chair the group with Professor David Hall, who is president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Both are also members of the children’s taskforce and will work with Aynsley-Green and the department of health in drawing up the new group’s 31-strong membership of experts in the fields of health and social care, education, management and the voluntary sector.

Williams said: "We need to bring health and social services closer together to support children and their families. I shall be seeking to put the needs of children, parents and carers at the centre of the group’s work on the standards."

The group’s first task will be to work on standards of care for children needing hospital treatment in England, which will comprise the first module of a new national service framework for children, said Aynsley-Green – the first module is due to be published next year.

The full NSF will develop national standards for children covering their progress through the health system from initial contact with the NHS, via GPs or hospitals, through to support from social services departments.

But Aynsley-Green said his role was wider than just pure health issues. Modernising children’s healthcare services would combine the "four threads" of health, social care, education and environment, he said, which would also take into account a "life chronology model" of the seven ages of childhood – foetus, neonatal, infant, pre-school, first school, adolescent, transition to adulthood.

"The mission is to improve the lives and health of children and young people through the delivery of appropriate, integrated, effective and needs-led services," he said.

Issues such as maternity services and schools would be a key part of the NSF.

"There is a great deal to be done. We must believe that we can make change happen. This demands passion coupled with discipline and reality," said Aynsley-Green. "We hope that our work will rattle some cages."