Child LightSaver Series – Episode II

Bringing light back into a child’s life after abuse or neglect

GCPHN’s Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) Child LightSaver Series is an educational set of articles aimed at assisting general practice to navigate the OOHC Health Assessment Pathway, which is focused on providing children and young people their required health assessments. Episode II provides guidance on how to navigate the Gold Coast Community HealthPathways webpage dedicated to children and young people in OOHC.

Developed for GPs, the Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care webpage on Gold Coast Community HealthPathways, provides clinical guidance and resources for the health assessment and management of infants, children and adolescents on the OOHC Health Assessment Pathway. HealthPathways webpages follow the same format for site consistency and include three key sections: Assessment, Management and Request. Some of the key features of these sections are outlined below.

Assessment

Children require a Preliminary Health Check within 30 days of entering out-of-home care and a Comprehensive Health and Development Assessment within 90 days. Templates for each are available for upload into your practice software.

Age‑appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander annual health check templates are also available and can be accessed via the Comprehensive Health and Developmental Assessment drop down arrow in the above screenshot.

Culturally sensitive options are available to children and young people who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, through Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, such as Kalwun.

Management

It is important that each child receives a Health Management Plan which is to be reviewed at least every 12 months. The Health Management Plan is a section included in the Comprehensive Health and Developmental Assessment template.

Request

The Request section provides additional referral information for care coordination.

Information and resources for Health Professionals can be accessed at the bottom of the page, through links that include the Gold Coast Primary Health Network webpage which is dedicated to Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care.

The GCPHN webpage dedicated to Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care has been redesigned and updated for ease of use and to provide the most relevant resources and information to assist GPs and health care workers navigate the OOHC Health Assessment Pathway.

If you require any additional support, please contact:
Gold Coast Health Liaison Officer
GoldCoastHLO@cyjma.qld.gov.au
0436 653 764