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Journal of Paediatrics and Child
Health
Volume 39 Issue 4 Page 249 - May 2003
doi:10.1046/j.1440-1754.2003.00146.x
36.6) during the 12 months. Of these, 31% (mean
10.9 visits) were visits to a general practitioner (GP) and 41.5%
(mean 14.3 visits) were visits to the MCHN. Infants' visits to the
MCHN were far more frequent in the first 6 months of life compared
with the second 6 months (10.3 vs 3.6, P < 0.001).
Rates of GP use were constant over the same periods (5.3 vs
5.7, P = 0.8).
Conclusions: In
a universal health-care system, this high rate of health-service use
equates to approximately one visit to a health service every 2 weeks
in the first year of life. The majority of these visits appeared
unrelated to illness. This previously undocumented data has
implications for future integrated service delivery,
health-professional training and policy development for this age
group.
