Table 3.
Average number of services used by children based on vulnerability classification
| Service type | Vulnerable children (n=124 668), mean (SD) |
Non-vulnerable children (n=240 470), mean (SD) |
Ratio of service use (95% CI)* |
| Primary care services | |||
| General practitioner | |||
| Year 1 | 8.84 (6.20) | 9.14 (5.90) | 0.98 (0.97 to 0.99) |
| Year 2 | 7.01 (5.81) | 7.62 (5.90) | 0.97 (0.97 to 0.98) |
| Year 3 | 4.03 (4.31) | 4.63 (4.50) | 0.94 (0.94 to 0.95) |
| Year 4 | 2.80 (3.69) | 3.88 (3.95) | 0.80 (0.79 to 0.80) |
| Year 5 | 1.94 (3.04) | 2.90 (3.31) | 0.68 (0.68 to 0.69) |
| Total | 24.62 (17.34) | 28.17 (17.93) | 0.99 (0.98 to 1.00) |
| Secondary care services | |||
| Specialist | |||
| Year 1 | 0.58 (2.53) | 1.12 (3.42) | 0.56 (0.55 to 0.57) |
| Year 2 | 0.25 (1.19) | 0.41 (1.56) | 0.70 (0.69 to 0.72) |
| Year 3 | 0.21 (0.98) | 0.34 (1.41) | 0.70 (0.69 to 0.72) |
| Year 4 | 0.16 (0.73) | 0.31 (1.31) | 0.59 (0.58 to 0.60) |
| Year 5 | 0.12 (0.71) | 0.25 (1.08) | 0.53 (0.51 to 0.54) |
| Total | 1.31 (4.08) | 2.42 (6.00) | 0.66 (0.66 to 0.67) |
| Pathology | |||
| Year 1 | 0.78 (3.23) | 1.01 (4.95) | 0.87 (0.86 to 0.89) |
| Year 2 | 0.71 (2.96) | 0.83 (3.22) | 0.91 (0.89 to 0.92) |
| Year 3 | 0.57 (2.53) | 0.68 (4.2) | 0.89 (0.88 to 0.90) |
| Year 4 | 0.42 (1.58) | 0.63 (3.78) | 0.72 (0.71 to 0.74) |
| Year 5 | 0.29 (1.34) | 0.49 (2.46) | 0.63 (0.62 to 0.64) |
| Total | 2.77 (7.09) | 3.64 (11.12) | 0.89 (0.88 to 0.90) |
| Diagnostic imaging | |||
| Year 1 | 0.28 (0.96) | 0.34 (1.30) | 0.87 (0.86 to 0.89) |
| Year 2 | 0.16 (0.62) | 0.19 (0.72) | 0.87 (0.85 to 0.89) |
| Year 3 | 0.13 (0.53) | 0.15 (0.61) | 0.84 (0.82 to 0.86) |
| Year 4 | 0.09 (0.45) | 0.14 (0.66) | 0.68 (0.66 to 0.70) |
| Year 5 | 0.07 (0.37) | 0.12 (0.50) | 0.61 (0.59 to 0.63) |
| Total | 0.73 (1.69) | 0.94 (2.22) | 0.84 (0.83 to 0.85) |
| Tertiary care services | |||
| Inpatient | |||
| Year 1 | 0.39 (1.07) | 0.29 (0.87) | 1.22 (1.21 to 1.24) |
| Year 2 | 0.21 (0.75) | 0.21 (0.80) | 0.97 (0.95 to 0.98) |
| Year 3 | 0.11 (0.65) | 0.14 (0.65) | 0.78 (0.76 to 0.80) |
| Year 4 | 0.07 (0.5) | 0.10 (0.57) | 0.73 (0.71 to 0.75) |
| Year 5 | 0.05 (0.44) | 0.06 (0.42) | 0.69 (0.67 to 0.72) |
| Total | 0.83 (2.06) | 0.80 (2.01) | 0.99 (0.97 to 1.00) |
| Emergency department | |||
| Year 1 | 0.99 (1.67) | 0.60 (1.18) | 1.36 (1.34 to 1.37) |
| Year 2 | 0.75 (1.40) | 0.60 (1.13) | 1.10 (1.09 to 1.12) |
| Year 3 | 0.40 (1.01) | 0.38 (0.87) | 0.91 (0.89 to 0.92) |
| Year 4 | 0.24 (0.77) | 0.24 (0.69) | 0.88 (0.86 to 0.89) |
| Year 5 | 0.14 (0.58) | 0.15 (0.55) | 0.85 (0.83 to 0.87) |
| Total | 2.52 (3.63) | 1.97 (2.77) | 1.05 (1.04 to 1.06) |
*Reference group=non-vulnerable children.