Helping families of children with chronic conditions navigate the healthcare system 

Navigating a complex health system can be extremely challenging and time consuming. There are appointments, scans, tests and so much more that need to be booked, organised and coordinated. 

A multi-site integrated care trial led by Caboolture Hospital over the past three years has shown that care coordination improved quality of life outcomes and reduced health systems costs for paediatric patients with chronic non-complex medical conditions and their families. 

Chief Investigator Dr Thuy Frakking said the Healthcare pathways for children with chronic conditions study recruited 81 families from general paediatric outpatient clinics across Caboolture, Gold Coast and Brisbane.  

“Rather than expecting families to go it alone in accessing and negotiating supports across the primary care, education, health, private and community sectors, the study evaluated the effectiveness of care coordination delivered by an Allied Health Liaison Officer (AHLO),” Dr Frakking said.  

“When the costs to the patient, health system and school system were analysed, receiving care coordination from an AHLO cost less money than usual care without an AHLO.  

“Each child who accessed an AHLO saved the health system an average of $514 over 12 months.” 

Dr Frakking said the next step was to advocate for funded AHLO positions across Queensland for more children and families to benefit from care coordination into the future. 

Findings from the study were recently published in JAMA Paediatrics, which is the highest ranked paediatric journal in the world.  

The article is available here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2787152