Connect cares for Kids'  

Connect Health & Community is proud to announce it will provide an assessment and care service, similar to the one it provides at Sandringham Hospital, for those presenting to the emergency department at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville.

Starting on 20 September, the service will respond to patients who present at the Royal Children’s Hospital emergency department in an effort to speed the assessment and treatment of non-emergency cases presenting at the hospital.

Connect Health & Community CEO, Amanda Murphy, said the new general practice service will provide great benefits to patients attending the hospital and also the emergency medical teams.

“The new service will quickly assess and direct the needs of patients to ensure the best medical outcomes for all.  If patients have non-urgent care requirements, like minor injuries or other issues that can be quickly treated for release, they will be directed to doctors in the ‘Ambulatory Care at the Kids’ team, and those assessed as emergency cases will be sent to the emergency teams for quick and urgent treatment.

“By doing this, we aim to speed up access to emergency care for those who need it, while assessing and treating non life-threatening cases in a timely manner, without impacting on emergency department resources,” she said.

“This model has worked well at the Sandringham Ambulatory Care Centre for the past two years where we’ve provided a service, seven days a week, seeing more than 28,000 patients. The service has been greatly received by the community and enabled a dynamic response to the changing needs of the community through COVID-19 with the provision of testing and vaccinations,” she said.

“We are proud of the outstanding efforts of the Sandringham Ambulatory Care Centre and the work it does every day to keep our community healthy and safe by working together with some of Melbourne’s best emergency care teams,” she said.

Ms Murphy said the team expects to treat about 625 children per month through the 7-day a week service.