Queensland children attending approved kindergarten programs will receive free health checks under a new State Government program.
Premier David Crisafulli said up to 60,000 children would benefit from the checks to be rolled out under a five-year $37.5 million Healthy Kindy Kids program.
Premier Crisafulli said the free health checks would include vision, hearing and speech development testing and be available to Government-approved kindergarten programs or childcare centres.
He said the goal was to identify health and developmental issues in children early, before they fell behind in their education journey.
“The program will be piloted in a select number of kindies in Townsville commencing in October this year, before ramping up and reaching all corners of Queensland by the end of 2027.”
Premier Crisafulli said checks would be undertaken by Queensland Health allied health assistants, allied health students or enrolled nurses under the supervision of a senior health professional.
He said the program was in response to early childhood educators reporting undiagnosed health and development issues were continuing to cause children to fall behind in their early years of education, leading to long-term learning difficulties.
“Through targeted and practical intervention, we are giving Queensland kids the best possible start.”
State Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the free health checks would help to identify a variety of health and developmental concerns early.
“Those children who are identified as at risk will also receive additional monitoring in the following years, to assess progress and make any necessary adjustments as they commence their school education,” Minister Nicholls said.
He said under the program a mobile health team would visit kindergartens and communities to provide on-site screening for vision, hearing, and speech development, prioritising those children with identified concerns on the pre-screen questionnaire.
“Any child that is flagged on the face-to-face screen will then be referred for follow-up services and support.”
