The RACGP has put forward its recommendations on the Thriving Kids program.
Discourse has sparked up again on the Thriving Kids initiative after the RACGP has released its submission on the scheme to the public, focusing on what can be learnt from former programs.
The college highlighted that the role of GPs in this area of care should be recognised and embedded into the scheme’s practical functioning and recommended the adoption of a nationally consistent, evidence-based framework to ensure a GP led approach.
This recommendation is guided by the RACGP Red Book and the NACCHO-RACGP National Guide that would see GPs as the centre of children’s care in the first 2000 days of life.
“We’re very hopeful that that is what we’re moving towards,” RACGP Specific Interests Child and Young Person’s Health Chair Dr Tim Jones told The Medical Republic.
“People who have a regular relationship with a GP will be able to get regular long appointments with their general practice for the purpose of monitoring and supporting their child’s development and identifying issues early and putting the right supports in place.”
A review of current and previous programs that have provided for children with autism and their families has also been suggested, with a view to implementing the more effective features into the Thriving Kids initiative.
This has been posed as a way to mitigate fragmentation of care, reduce potential overlap with other services and restore the gaps in care from the discontinuation of former programs.
“One of the problems with the NDIS is that it has led to more fragmentation,” Dr Jones told TMR.
“By bringing this sort of support back to communities, back to grassroots services, it’s going to be a lot more people getting support from teams that already know them and who are working well together.”
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Accessibility to said services is another focal point of the submission, with the college touting the ability of GPs in being the first point of call for parents.
“An unintended consequence of the NDIS is that GPS felt that care of children with developmental concerns was no longer their role, that it was the role of this new service to do that,” Dr Jones told TMR.
“GPs have always had an interest in child development and really supporting families as much as they can.
“This is a recognition at a big government level that breaking off supportive development into its own separate system may not work as well for the majority of families whose needs are not extremely complex to deliver the care they need.
“For kids with really high-level care needs and severe disability, that’s still a system the NDIS, which is much needed and will continue to give those supports into the future.”
The RACGP has stated that Health Minister Mark Butler has made it clear that as of November 2026, GPs will be provided Medicare support to assist with the Thriving Kids program.
