Improving health outcomes

Thriving and On Track:
Early intervention improves developmental outcomes for children before school age

The first 5 years of life are critical to a child’s development. These years contribute meaningfully to how a person’s health, learning, and wellbeing is shaped for years to come. 

Our Thriving and On Track (TOTs) program continued supporting children aged 0–5 years in Logan and Inala, delivering developmental screening in early childhood education centres (ECECs) and community playgroup settings where families feel safe and engaged.

Parents build trust with educators who see their children daily. When developmental screening happens in familiar early education and childcare settings, participation rates exceed clinic-based models because:

• families don't need to navigate unfamiliar health services
• children feel comfortable, enabling more accurate assessment
• follow-through increases because educators can support families with strategies.

415 early years educators coached on supporting child development

We engaged 415 educators with capacity-building support about child development, with 373 educators receiving TOTs training to support:

• increased knowledge and confidence in identifying developmental concerns
• engaging in sensitive conversations with families on their child’s development
• navigation of referral pathways
• the use of targeted intervention strategies in the classroom.

As a result, families were more proactive and responsive to concerns raised by early years educators, while children accessed specialist developmental support earlier and received more tailored assistance in their learning environments.

285 children screened by a Child Health Nurse in familiar settings

TOTs supported 285 families to access secondary developmental screenings by a child health nurse in their ECEC (up from 209 families last year), with 100% of the 42 families who provided feedback on the service reporting they were ‘very happy’ with appointments and understood next steps to support their child.

Early identification enables intervention during critical developmental windows, improving long-term outcomes. When developmental concerns are identified and addressed early, children have better educational, social and health outcomes throughout life.

TOTs is proving how early, place-based intervention and educator capacity building can make a lasting difference for children, families and early childhood educators, as backed by the findings of a longitudinal study conducted by Griffith University. 

Family violence response: Training and trauma-informed support

Family, domestic and sexual violence impacts multiple health and social care domains—mental health, physical health, economic participation, housing stability and child development. When primary healthcare providers like GPs are confident at identifying the signs and symptoms of abuse and feel confident in broaching this conversation with patients, they can act appropriately to connect their patients to additional supports to help keep them safe.

This year, our commissioned service providers delivered comprehensive support programs and health provider training to respond to the impacts of family and domestic violence, sexual violence and child sexual abuse.

Recognise Respond Refer: Building provider confidence to support victim-survivors in general practice

Many healthcare providers want to help patients they suspect may be at risk of harm or further harm due to family, domestic or sexual violence, but fear saying the wrong thing or making the situation worse. Specialist training exists to provide frameworks and language that enable providers to raise concerns safely and supportively.

We supported the delivery of 52 Recognise, Respond, Refer (RRR) training sessions on identifying the signs and symptoms in patients affected by family, domestic and sexual violence (FDSV) across 243 general practices and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.

This year a total of:

• 160 general practitioners (GPs)
• 31 nurses
• 37 health services administration staff
• 11 allied health professionals

were trained to confidently recognise, respond and refer patients and clients in need to services that specialise in providing support to people affected by FDSV, to help end the cycle of violence in our communities.

In addition to providing specialist training, our commissioned Local Link workers provided a single point of contact for general practices, offering direct support to patients experiencing family violence and capacity-building support to practices navigating complex situations.

From the 239 workforce participants in the program this year:

• 92% now feel confident identifying family violence needs
• 91% know appropriate questions to ask when they suspect a patient is experiencing violence
• 346 direct referrals were made to a Local Link specialist to further support patients in need.

Supporting Recovery: Trauma-informed care for victim-survivors of sexual abuse and family and domestic violence

Our Supporting Recovery programs delivered trauma-informed care for people affected by family, domestic and sexual violence (FDSV) and child sexual abuse, with:

• 1,030 episodes of care delivered
• more than 10,800 service contacts across all programs
• greater than 50% client satisfaction.

Trauma-informed care requires sustained engagement for successful intervention as recovery is non-linear: 42% of episodes completed treatment during the year, while 58% of people continued accessing services into the next financial year—reflecting the reality that recovery from trauma takes time and ongoing support.

FDSV is a social factor affecting outcomes across multiple areas—mental health, physical health, economic participation, housing stability and child development. Providers who can identify FDSV and respond accordingly can connect patients to supports that address the root causes, not just symptoms.