Ms Bernadette O’Connor1, Ms Adrienne Fosang1, A/Prof Tom Connell1
1The Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Australia
Connecting kids to care earlier – A stepped care approach to developmental care at RCH.
Developmentally vulnerable children often wait for intervention because they are triaged as “non-urgent” against medical criteria. Paradoxically, the benefits of early intervention for these children are life-long and profound. Why then do children wait so long in the wrong queue for care that does not meet their needs? The Stepped Care Approach to Developmental Care at RCH established a centralized enhanced triage system for developmental referrals, with capacity for differing levels of clinician involvement to ensure children were seen by the ‘right person at the right time in the right place’.
This project was launched after previous projects revealed widely varied eligibility criteria, triage processes and service structures for children referred to the RCH with a developmental concern. This systemic problem led to increases in waiting time for intervention, inefficient use of clinician time, frustration on the part of families and clinicians and an inability to ensure children with developmental challenges were identified as early as possible and given a pathway to appropriate interventions
Using co-design and multi-departmental involvement, agreed eligibility criteria were established to guide experienced Allied Health clinicians to connect children to the appropriate developmental care and support vulnerable families to access care.
The service has achieved multiple positive outcomes including reduced failure to attend rates, reduced number of appointments required to formulate management plans and development of a community ‘map’ of developmental services.
Biography:
Bernadette O’Connor is Director Allied Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Bernadette trained in Speech Pathology and public health and has a 40-year career working across public & private health in acute, sub-acute and community settings. She is passionate about promoting children’s development and maximizing developmental outcomes.
A/Prof Tom Connell was appointed to the role of Chief of Medicine at The Royal Children’s Hospital in October 2018. Tom graduated from University College Dublin (1996) and received Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 2010. In 2021, he completed fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (FRACMA).