Child and Youth Health Network

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Model of Care

A working group with diverse representation including consumer representatives, midwives, public health, paediatricians, researchers and policy officers from the Office of Aboriginal Health, Drug and Alcohol Office and other related agencies has developed the draft FASD Model of Care which is now available for review and feedback.

The draft Model prioritises the use of prevention strategies to reduce the prevalence of FASD, recognizing there is no cure for this avoidable condition.

The Model includes 32 recommendations across the areas of prevention; screening; diagnosis; advocacy/partnerships; workforce and monitoring; and evaluation and surveillance.

The consultation period has now closed and the feedback received is currently being reviewed and incorporated as appropriate into the final document. It is hoped the final endorsed document will be available in early 2010.

Australian Early Development Index (AEDI)

The AEDI is a population measure of young children’s development from a teacher–completed checklist and measures five developmental domains:

• physical health and wellbeing
• social competence
• emotional maturity
• language and cognitive skills
• communication and general knowledge

With the support of Federal Government funding AEDI was rolled out in all Australian schools in 2009. The data for 2009 has now been collected with a participation rate of 99% of schools in Western Australia (more than 26,000 children).

• The National report will be released on 4 December 2009, showing summarized data at national and state levels. Community profiles will be made available in March 2010, giving every community across Australia will have a comprehensive picture of the early development outcomes for children in their community. For communities where the number of pre–primary children is too small, especially in some regional and remote areas of WA, there will be an opportunity for those communities to repeat the AEDI in 2010.
• An AEDI in Schools Study is being undertaken and is aimed at developing resources to support schools in using their community's AEDI results.
• A national AEDI Strategic Policy Committee with state/territory representation has been established to provide strategic advice on policies and processes for the access, use and dissemination of AEDI data.

The Federal Government has provided additional funding to fund the continuation of state and territory coordinators. These coordinators will play a critical role in community action following the release of the community maps and profiles.

Visit www.aedi.org.au for more information.

Participation with Children and Young People

The WA Commissioner for Children and Young People, Michelle Scott, has recently released participation guidelines for Involving Children and Young People. The guidelines aim to encourage non–government and government organisations to involve the State’s youngest citizens in key decisions that affect them. The new children’s hospital for WA planning project team are already utilising the guidelines in its child and youth participation process.

Niftey (WA)

The National Investment for the Early Years (Niftey) is a national professional advocacy body setup in 1999 to promote and share the growing body of research around the importance of the early years and early brain development. They have been effective in informing government and assisting in policy formation.

In 2007 Lotterywest funded a project which was sponsored by the Western Australian branch of NIFTeY to map Western Australian services and programs for children in the early years (0–8) and their parents and to consider mechanisms for improving coordination and collaboration in the early childhood services sector. The completed report is available from the Lotterywest website http://www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au/grants/about-lotterywest-grants/7062

New Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Guidelines for Early Childhood Settings

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon and Minister for Early Childhood Education, Kate Ellis, have released new guidelines, developed with the assistance of a consortium led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

The guidelines, titled Get Up & Grow, provide information to support healthy behaviour in children aged five years and younger attending early childhood education and care settings, including centre–based care, family day care and preschools. The guidelines are available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr09-nr-nr181.htm.

Support of call for adolescent health check

The Network has given their support to a national submission for the introduction of an adolescent health check. Coordinated by the NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health, the submission proposes the introduction of an annual Adolescent Health Check with a corresponding Medicare model for General Practitioners to provide adolescents with a full psychosocial and medical health record.

Paediatric Chronic Diseases Transition Framework

This framework has been developed by the WA Health Child and Youth Network's Adolescent Chronic Diseases Transitional Care Working Party to improve the way young people with chronic diseases transition from paediatric to adult care. It is planned that the final, endorsed document will be available later this year.

The Network was recently featured in NSW Health's E–zine magazine. The magazine is produced by the Greater Metropolitan Clinical Taskforce Transition Network. Their program aims to improve the continuity of care for young people with chronic health problems as they move from children’s to adult health services. Transition Coordinators are based at three tertiary adult hospitals closely affiliated with the three NSW tertiary paediatric hospitals. The program extends across all Area Health Services in NSW.

The Transition Coordinators help paediatric clinicians to plan for transition, help young people and their families to sort out any difficulties in finding or attending adult health services, provide information about adult health services, provide guidance to attend clinics, make sure that they are successfully engaged in the adult service and assist the young person to adjust to a new adult team and a new adult service. They can also help the young person to locate a general practitioner if they do not already have one as studies have shown that having a regular GP improves the individual's health, decreases hospital admissions, decreases readmission and improves mental health and coping. Further information can be found on their website http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/gmct/transition.

Child and Youth Health Nursing Network

This group, led by Sue Peter, continues to be very active in providing opportunities for nurses working in the field to network, share knowledge and work collaboratively in the implementation of evidence based best practice. Support they currently provide includes:

• A quarterly newsletter which is mailed out to nurses registered with the Network, keeping nurses informed of current practice and developments.
• Establishment of a query facility where nurses can request information from other members.
• Automatic distribution of updates of Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) nursing policies and guidelines to paediatric wards in the metropolitan area and WA Country Health Service.
• Lead nurses from PMH and the paediatric wards in the metropolitan area are working collaboratively to progress hospital transfer policies and coordination of ambulatory care processes.

To register as a Nursing Network member please email your contact and position details to Julie.Bradley@health.wa.gov.au.

Recent Events

The Network was involved in two events in June 2009:

• The Network’s Stakeholder Forum
• Clinical Senate debate "Health and the Facebook Generation"

Both events allowed the Network to interact with stakeholders and help identify the priorities for child and youth health. The Network will use the results of both events to help determine their work plans and priorities.

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