Ms Annie Robertson1, Ms Shani Mattinson1, Ms Emilie Pitts1, Ms Elizabeth Beaton1
1Perth Children's Hospital, Perth, Australia
Biography:
Annie, Dietitian, Shani, Occupational Therapist and Emilie, Speech Pathologist together with their colleagues currently run the Feeding Assessment and Support Team at Perth Children’s Hospital in Perth, Western Australia. They have worked across a range of metropolitan and rural Paediatric health services in Australia and the United Kingdom, and have been involved in development of multiple paediatric feeding services between them. They have a passion for empowering families through collaborative, evidence based and equitable feeding supports.
Abstract:
Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) is the only dedicated Paediatric hospital in Western Australia, providing services to a population of over two million. Prior to 2024, children in WA requiring tertiary feeding support were referred to a Paediatrician at PCH before being eligible for the feeding team. The paediatrician was required to hold clinical governance for the patient to maintain access to the feeding team. This resulted in delayed feeding support, and inequitable access to a multidisciplinary feeding team for children living outside PCH’s catchment area.
FAST (Feeding Assessment and Support Team) was set up to expedite access to feeding support, reduce emergency presentations and hospital admissions for urgent feeding issues, and improve equity in tertiary multidisciplinary feeding services. The team comprises of a Dietitian, Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, Clinical Nurse and Paediatrician. Patients are triaged by the team, however medical governance remains with the patients referring doctor outside of the hospital.
In the first 12 months FAST has seen 98 patients, 21% of which had a 1a priority rating (at risk of imminent hospitalisation). There has been a 26% reduction in patient numbers seen by the PCH feeding team compared to the previous year, suggesting a reduction in patients referred to tertiary paediatricians for isolated feeding support. Key learnings have been around communication and relationship building, fine tuning pathways for urgent medical intervention and streamlining administrative processes. Future goals are to refine outcome measures, imbed family mental health supports and develop training for primary and secondary health services in WA.