Table 1.

Current Australian national and NSW state-based models of child development surveillance, screening and diagnosis [11]

Model feature	NSW	Australia
Target population – universal	√	√
Progressive or proportionate universalisma	√	√
Ages for contact	Birth to 4 years	Birth to 5 years
Number of contact points	8	Not specified
Settings	Home visits & clinics	Home visits & clinics
Primaryb Healthcare professionals involved Secondaryc	Child and family health nurses, midwives, GPs – Paediatricians, social workers, psychologists, speech pathologist, and so forth	Child and family health nurses, midwives, GPs – Paediatricians, social workers, psychologists, speech pathologist, and so forth
Physical health monitoringd	√	√
Hearing and vision screeninge	√	√
Growth monitoringd	√	√
Health promotion	√	√
Developmental assessmentf	√	√
Child developmental screening tool	Blue Book (Learn the Signs. Act Early [LTSAE])	Based on jurisdiction
Immunisation	√	√
Anticipatory guidance		√
Autism screening	X	X
IT utilised in program	X	X

^a Each of the comprehensive models sought to include all children (universal reach) although most noted a need for targeted resources for disadvantaged children. Documents varied with respect to the amount of detail regarding the identification, engagement and management of such disadvantaged children, although sub-populations of indigenous/aboriginal families, teenage mothers and children living in poverty were frequently mentioned as being prioritised

^b Primary health care is provided by General Practitioners who serve at the entry level to the health system and, as such, is usually a person’s first encounter with the health system. They provide a broad range of activities and services, from health promotion and prevention, to treatment and management of acute and chronic conditions

^c Secondary health care relates to a specialist medical practitioner (e.g. paediatricians) when patients are referred from a primary care service such as the General Practice to the next level in the service system, and this could be in a hospital or a community based specialist clinic

^d Monitoring enables ongoing tracking of health and developmental problems as well as linking children with services for further assessment or intervention when concerns are identified

^e Developmental screening is a test (or a series of tests) performed on a population to systematically examine whether the child is meeting the developmental milestones, with a view of identifying any developmental delay/problems early

^f Developmental assessments are a comprehensive evaluation of a child’s physical, intellectual, language, social and emotional development. It is the process of mapping a child’s performance compared with children of similar age, and aims to highlight what normal developmental parameters are, when and how to assess a child, and when to refer for specialist assessment