At the Centre for Development Disability Health Victoria (CDDHV), our goal is to improve health outcomes for people with developmental disability.
General Practice
Experienced General Practitioners and supervised GP registrars provide detailed assessments and reviews of people referred to the CDDHV by their own General Practitioners.
Referrals may be instigated by other involved parties (e.g. family, support workers, Case Managers, specialists) but the referral process requires that the usual GP formally make the application, after assessing the patient and deciding that referral is appropriate, by completing the relevant parts of a pre-appointment questionnaire(PAQ). The remainder of the PAQ can be completed by anyone who knows the relevant details.
Regular clinical review meetings are conducted by the CDDHV clinicians to review the referrals and decide which clinician will see each patient. The decision is based on the presenting clinical picture, the urgency of the situation and the particular interests and case loads of the clinicians. Following the clinical meeting, the receptionist co-ordinates the making of appointments.
The GPs at the CDDHV have extensive experience and skills in assessing and managing not only the physical health of people with developmental disabilities, but also in assessing people with behavioural change and issues relating to the management of their behaviour. Often people with concerning behaviour change and possible mental health problems will be assessed in the first instance by a GP rather that a psychiatrist.
About 80-90% of those referred are offered appointments. In some cases, however, alternative arrangements are considered more appropriate and a Clinician will contact the GP and other key personnel to discuss these options.
The initial assessment consultation is usually for 1-1 ½ hours and is ideally attended by the patient, a support person with a good knowledge of the person, the background and the presenting problem, and other parties who may be able to contribute. We ask that all relevant material be brought to the consultation.
Privacy and consent forms are filled out to enable the CDDHV doctor to collect relevant information from other sources and to clarify who will receive a copy of the report.
A detailed report including an assessment and management suggestions is sent to the referring doctor with copies to the agreed parties after each consultation.
Although the CDDHV clinicians provides a secondary consultation service, rather than on-going management, it is not always possible to complete the assessment and formulate a management plan without conducting investigations and trialing medications. Therefore, some patients will be reviewed on a number of occasions while the assessment is being completed and a practical, effective management plan developed, and the patient can be returned to their regular GP for continuing care.
