[New duties of the medical child health surveillance teams: the "Hamburg Concept"].

In Hamburg the physical 'entrance to school examination' performed by doctors/paediatricians of the public health service system (KJGD) was rescinded in 1997. A new school law (HmbSG) is now regulating school health services as well as the developmental psychological tests and examinations of handicapped schoolchildren and thus also the field of activity of the child health surveillance teams. In 1999 a fundamental agreement was achieved according to which school health services will be part of a health promotion programme for school age children and adolescents. During the realization of the new tasks established social pediatric and population - based strategies of public health services were abandoned. The organizational, conceptional, and professional ideas are clearly divergent between the different professional groups at the moment. The KJGD needs to develop its skills as service-seller and is challenged to establish itself as an individual service for each school location. The necessary change of roles requises active support. Advanced training and development of organisation(al structures) are imperative.