If you build it who will come? Case mix data of a new rural paediatric outpatient clinic.

Introduction: There is limited current evidence describing the case mix data of rural paediatric outpatient clinics. Collection and analysis of this data is essential for health service planning, facilitating the identification of areas of need within specific communities to support contextualised delivery of paediatric health care.

Objective: To describe the case mix of patients seen during the initial 12 months of a rural paediatric service, providing evidence to inform rural health service planning.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Results: There were 149 initial consultations during the study period. Behavioural/developmental problems were found in 71.8% of patients and physical problems were present in 64.4% of patients. This resulted in 38.9% of patients having a combination of problem types. 42.9% of patients were referred to or already accessing allied health services, while 20% were accessing specialised paediatric support services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme and child protection services. Investigations were ordered for 45% of patients, with medications prescribed in 43% of cases. Only 5.4% of patients were discharged after their initial appointment. There were significant differences in problems identified on the referral compared to at the initial appointment demonstrating the value of this service to a rural community.

Conclusion: The case mix data illustrates a rural paediatric cohort with a complex and chronic burden of disease especially in terms of behavioural and developmental problems. These findings add to the literature on rural paediatric patient care and demonstrate the value of an embedded paediatric service in a medium sized rural town.