Nearly 9 in 10 parents have a high level of confidence in their GPs to treat their children, with a similar proportion choosing to take their children to the GP instead of hospital for minor ailments.
89% of parents responding to the survey from the University of Melbourne said they were either completely (44%) or mostly (45%) confident in their GP to provide general health care to their children, with only 2% saying they were not very confident.
The survey results have attracted controversy for being presented as showing a majority of parents were not confident in their GPs abilities, with the ‘mostly confident’ category excluded in many media reports.
This approach was criticised as being unfair and misleading by many GPs and was featured on the ABC’s Media Watch program.
Local GP Dr Anita Munoz said it was gratifying to see evidence of such strong support from parents, as providing paediatric care in the community is such a crucial part of a GP’s role.
Dr Munoz is a clinical editor, currently working with Safer Care Victoria and the Victorian Paediatric Health Network Alliance (VPHNA) to develop statewide paediatric clinical HealthPathways. These pathways aim to provide an accessible, evidence-based tool for utilisation within general practice by primary care clinicians to use during consultations for paediatric conditions of low complexity and high volume, in addition to providing valuable referral pathway information.
“Delivering high quality paediatric care is a priority for GPs and these new pathways will help promote even better outcomes for parents and families,” Dr Munoz said.
The new pathways will be made available through each of the VPHNA partners in Victoria. GPs in the Melbourne metropolitan area can access HealthPathways Melbourne at https://melbourne.healthpathways.org.au. More details on the above project will be released soon.
