CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICE
51. Hon DONNA FARAGHER to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the metropolitan Child Development Service and its
website that currently refers to service changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
in particular the statement that ''most appointments may be provided by
telehealth—over the phone or by video call''.
(1) Have all services and appointments provided by the
service been impacted by the service changes?
(2) If no to (1), which services and appointments have been
impacted?
(3) Can the minister advise when these service changes came
into effect?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question.
(1)–(2)
All metropolitan Child Development Service appointments are being provided via
telehealth whenever it is clinically suitable. Components of services that are
not clinically suitable for telehealth, for example a hearing test, continue to
be provided in person with COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies in place.
(3) They came
into effect on 31 January 2022. This is in line with the Chief Health Officer's
directive for outpatient services to be delivered via telehealth from that date
unless there is a critical reason why the person needs to physically attend.