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Aim: Children in out-of-home care have high and frequently unidentified health needs. The Child Protection Unit at Sydney Children's Hospital offers comprehensive health screening to children in care. Recommendations for remediation are made, but follow-up in the clinic is not offered. Current research has failed to establish whether health screening results in health benefits for the children screened. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the health screening clinic on children's health outcomes by tracking the first 100 children screened, determining how many of the health recommendations made for each child had been implemented and, if possible, what the health outcome had been. Methods: Research questionnaires were sent to the Department of Social Services caseworkers of the first 100 children screened. Results: Adherence to health recommendations was high; however, it was not possible to quantify the degree of health benefit to the children screened. A number of systemic problems were identified, which are likely to hinder the accessibility of health care for children in care. Conclusions: Comprehensive health screening of children in care is likely to benefit a child's health, although this could not be determined. Agencies responsible for placing children in care need systems in place to ensure better inter-agency collaboration between the health system and community services. This should help improve health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children living in out-of-home care have high and frequently unidentified health needs. The Child Protection Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital offers comprehensive health screening to children in care. Aims: To report the experience of the health screening clinic and the rates of identified health problems of children in care in this sample, and to compare these rates with the general child population and children in care overseas. Methods: Comprehensive multidisciplinary health screens were offered to children in out-of-home care. Results: High rates of physical, developmental and emotional health problems were identified. The rates of poor health were greater than the average child population of New South Wales, but similar to the rates of poor health reported in children in care overseas. Conclusions: Children in care are a vulnerable group of the child population who experience unacceptable levels of poor health. Comprehensive health screens can help identify previously undetected health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This study describes the presentations made to the Sydney Children's Hospital (SCH) Emergency Department (ED) by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) children with particular reference to children who present frequently or whose presentation was preventable. Methods Data from the SCH ED Information System were extracted for all presentations made by children who identified as Aboriginal, aged between 0-15 years, who presented between 2005-2008. Presentations were coded according to the presenting problem, diagnosis, outcome, and whether the presentations were potentially preventable. Preventable presentations include those presentations considered to be avoidable and those that could have been managed by a local primary care or community service. Results There were 1252 presentations to the SCH ED by 453 Aboriginal children aged 0-15 years. More than 50% of children presented more than once. Seventy-nine children presented more than five times. Nearly 45% of presentations were coded as potentially preventable. Conclusions A significant proportion of ED presentations were potentially preventable with the use of culturally appropriate and accessible local community and primary health care services and better referral pathways back to these services. Community engagement is required to raise awareness of common presentations and to look at strategies to prevent common problems both occurring and presenting to the ED. This will enhance the health of urban Aboriginal children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]