Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) affects approximately 1-4 per 1,000 children under the age of 16. Girls are more commonly affected than boys. It is a heterogeneous condition, even within JIA categories, ranging from insidious arthritis affecting one to two joints to florid and life-threatening systemic arthritis. All patients with suspected JIA should be referred urgently to a specialist paediatric rheumatology team. Coordinated, multidisciplinary care within a specialist team is required to achieve optimal outcomes.