Paediatricians from Mercy Health have been nationally recognised for their innovative approach to community paediatrics, being awarded the Children’s Healthcare Australasia (CHA) 2025 Local/Community Medal of Distinction.
This recognition highlights the program’s leadership in improving access, outcomes, and collaboration for children in Victoria’s fast-growing and culturally diverse Wyndham region.
Working Together for Kids, launched in 2022 and delivered through Werribee Mercy Hospital, places paediatric services within school Community Hubs at Wyndham Park Primary School, Truganina South Primary School and Doherty’s Creek Primary School. By bringing care directly to the school environment, the program overcomes common barriers that prevent families from accessing hospital outpatient services, such as transport challenges, referral delays, cost, and trust issues.
Since its inception, the program has:
- Supported over 520 children
- Delivered more than 1,760 appointments
- Made over 1,770 referrals to vital services
- Held 1,550 case conferences bringing together educators, clinicians and families
- Achieved a 91% clinic attendance rate.
“Traditional outpatient pathways leave too many children behind,” said Dr Kathy McMahon, Clinical Director of Paediatrics at Werribee Mercy Hospital. “By working directly in schools, we can remove some barriers completely. Families trust their school, and this trust extends to our team, enabling early intervention and holistic care.”
Dr Sophie Butcher, a paediatrician in the Mercy Health program, emphasised the unique opportunities of school-based care. “Many of the children we see have complex needs, including trauma, migration challenges, and developmental delays. Being embedded in their day-to-day environment allows us to identify concerns early and support families in a setting where they feel safe.”
Her colleague, Dr Raffaela Armiento, highlighted the tangible impact on school life. “We’ve seen children who were only attending school for a couple of hours now staying full days because the right supports are in place. Teachers share insights from the classroom, families share what’s happening at home and we provide the clinical expertise to support both.”
Many families in the region face significant social and financial challenges, including family violence, child protection involvement, trauma and language barriers. School-based Community Hubs allow the clinics to connect families directly to services such as Anglicare and Uniting, providing holistic support across clinical, social, and material needs.
“One example of the benefits of the Community Hub and the collaborative support it provides involved a family whose primary school-aged child needed help with bedwetting. While addressing this, we discovered the family didn’t have a working washing machine or dryer, which added extra pressure to get the child to school. By connecting them with Anglicare, the family was able to access laundry appliances, easing their stress and supporting the child’s school attendance,” said Dr Armiento.
Looking ahead, Mercy Health paediatricians aim to expand the program to more schools and broaden the multidisciplinary team to include onsite speech pathology, psychology, and allied health services that families often cannot access due to cost or availability.
“This is early intervention at its most effective,” said Dr McMahon. “The demand is clear, the outcomes are tangible, and with sustainable funding, we hope to scale the model to reach even more children and families across Victoria.”
