Providing Enhanced Access to Child Health Services (PEACH) at Sydney Children's Hospital Network: a study protocol

Area of Science:

• Child Health Services
• Health Equity
• Quality Improvement Projects

Background:

• Children and young people (CYP) from priority populations in Australia face significant inequities in healthcare access and health outcomes.
• Priority populations include Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander CYP, culturally and linguistically diverse CYP, refugees/asylum seekers, those in out-of-home care, and CYP with disabilities.
• These disparities highlight the need for targeted interventions to ensure equitable opportunities for healthy lives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement an organisation-wide quality improvement project, Providing Enhanced Access to Child Health Services (PEACH).
• To achieve equivalent health outcomes in priority CYP populations compared to their non-priority peers.
• To create an equity-focused learning health system within a major tertiary paediatric health service.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing electronic medical record (eMR) data and qualitative methodologies, including interviews, surveys, and co-design workshops.
• Engaging five priority population advisory groups comprising staff and service users to guide research and intervention design.
• Comparing health access and outcome measures pre- and post-implementation (2015-2027) against baseline data and national controls.

Main Results:

• The PEACH project is designed to identify health inequities and inform interventions for improved identification and access to services.
• Analysis of health access and outcome measures (e.g., hospitalisations, critical care admission) will be used to drive continuous learning.
• Dashboards will visualize data to support ongoing quality improvement and reduce inequity in care.

Conclusions:

• The PEACH project employs a comprehensive approach to address systemic inequities in child healthcare.
• Continuous learning and data-driven insights are central to achieving equitable health outcomes for all children.
• Findings will be disseminated to stakeholders to promote broader adoption of effective strategies.