1. Introducing the Referral Decision Aid for children with developmental delays in Melbourne’s west November 2017
Note to presenters:
This presentation can be used to introduce the referral decision aid to staff.
Please feel free to modify the text as appropriate for your organisation, and change the background to your organisation’s template.
You may wish to consider using a simple case study or example through the presentation, to give your audience a taste of working through the decision aid.

2. Why was the Referral Decision Aid created?
The decision aid was created to provide clarity about eligibility and pathways for public services for children with developmental delays in Melbourne’s West.
The existing service system can be complex, confusing and disjointed, with duplication and gaps. This leads to:
Inefficiencies in the system
Referrers can get confused and frustrated
Delays for families, risk of them disengaging (esp. ‘vulnerable’ families).
Findings from consultation with service providers and referrers in Melbourne’s west healthwest.org.au/projects/service-coordination/pathways-for-children-with-developmental-delay
The referral decision aid was created to provide clarity about eligibility and pathways for public services for children with developmental delays in Melbourne’s West.
The existing service system can be complex, confusing and disjointed, with duplication and gaps in system. This leads to:
Inefficiencies in the system
Referrers can get confused and frustrated
Delays for families, risk of disengaging (esp. ‘vulnerable’ families)
Referrers and families can find the existing service system for children with developmental delay can be complex, confusing and disjointed. Some duplications and gaps are also present.
Referrers reported a lack of clarity about service eligibility and knowledge of the services offered by each service.
This was confirmed by consultations conducted with service providers and referrers in Melbourne’s West by HealthWest in early The consultation indicated this was leading to high numbers of referrals to inappropriate services. The consultation report can be found on HealthWest’s website.

3. How was the Referral Decision Aid developed?
An Alliance formed of local service providers and funders:
Western Health
Djerriwarrh Health Service
cohealth
IPC Health
Royal Children’s Hospital
Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) intake
Department of Health and Human Services (Western Region)
This work was funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services as part of the Pathways for Children with Developmental Delays Project.
An Alliance was formed of local service providers and funders including:
Western Health
Djerriwarrh Health Service
cohealth
IPC Health
Royal Children’s Hospital
Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS) intake
Department of Health and Human Services (Western Region)
The Alliance was facilitated by HealthWest Partnership, the local Primary care partnership. It was funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services as part of the Pathways for Children with Developmental Delays Project.

4. Using the Referral Decision Aid
Referral Decision Aid can be used to:
refer children to an appropriate service
assess eligibility of incoming referrals
review referrals and support service planning.
Applies to children in Melbourne’s west who:
have one or more developmental delay
are preschool aged (from zero and school entry).
Not intended as a clinical or diagnostic tool, should not replace them.
Valid until rollout of NDIS (expected to begin October 2018).
The Referral Decision Aid is intended to support the referral of children and families to services that will provide appropriate supports to the child. This is essential if timely and appropriate care is to be provided to prepare children for school and beyond.
It can be used in a number of ways to support appropriate referrals:
refer children to an appropriate allied health service.
assess eligibility of incoming referrals.
review referrals and support service planning.
Applies to children who:
Are from Melbourne’s west (Brimbank, Hobson’s Bay, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham).
Have one or more developmental delay
Are preschool aged (from zero and school entry)
It was not developed as a clinical or diagnostic tool, and is not intended to be used in place of these tools.
It is valid until rollout of the NDIS. This is expected to begin in October 2018 in the west.

5. In STEP ONE you will need to identify the developmental domains where delays are present.
Three domains of delay have been defined:
Physical health and Wellbeing
Communication skills and cognition
Social Competence and Emotional maturity
These were modified from the domains in the Australian Early Development Census.
For STEP TWO you will need to identify the severity for all domains where a delay is present.
The severity can be mild, moderate or severe. Use the Definitions provided to help you identify the severity.
The domains and severity of delays will be used in Step Three.

6. Step Three: Now that you have defined the domains and severity of delays present, work your way through the flow chart, starting at the top left corner.
For example, a child presents with no severe delays and moderate delays in two developmental domains should be referred to a Hospital Allied Health Service and ECIS.

7. Step Four is to refer the child to a local service.
This page contains information about individual services, including the Local Government Areas that they service and their contact info. It also contains other information about when you should make multiple referrals, and finding private providers.

8. Next steps 1. Familiarise yourself with the decision aid
2. Ensure your practice is consistent with the decision aid
We helped develop this tool and have committed to it
Support consistency across the West
Help children and families get the services they need sooner.
3. Give us your feedback
<insert internal contact if appropriate>
Survey at
So, what are your next steps?
First: Familiarise yourself with the referral decision aid, and make sure you have a paper or electronic copy nearby.
Two: Have a think about if your practice is consistent with the decision aid, or where you could make some changes.
Our organisation helped developed the Referral Decision Aid, and we have committed to working in line with it where we can. This will help us achieve more consistency across our region. Ultimately, this is about supporting children and families to get the services they need, sooner.
Three: Let us know what you think!
We really want to hear from workers on the ground about whether it is effective and user-friendly! You can let is know by <insert method for internal feedback if appropriate> or complete a short feedback survey at this link. You can also find some more information about the decision aid there.

9. Any questions?