KidsDocOnCall app will provide parents with 24/7 access to doctors for their children

Australian parents left waiting hours for help in emergency departments will now have their children seen by senior doctors in less than an hour. See how it works.

As an emergency children’s specialist, Dr Sidney Sunwoo has lost count of the number of young patients he’s treated.

And with record numbers of children aged under 14 attending hospital emergency departments – and in the midst of a global pandemic – he thought there must be a better way of assessing them than clogging up already-stretched public hospital wait rooms.

Launched in the midst of the pandemic last year, KidsDocOnCall is a 24/7 Australia-wide service providing video medical consultations for parents with senior paediatric specialists.

Families download the app and register their children, then click of a button to request a video consultation.

Once a doctor is free – usually within less than an hour – a message is sent with a video link. Families pay per consultation – ranging from $80 to $125 for members signed up to a monthly subscription or $180 to $225 for non-members. Medicare rebates apply for some calls.

“We always say if in doubt come to emergency, especially when children are involved. But there are always a lot of families in emergency who don’t need to be there,” Dr Sunwoo said.

“Of more concern, many don’t go to emergency who should. It is our job to determine if a child has a serious illness and we can help parents navigate the often-confusing health system.”

“All our doctors, including me, are also clinically active in face-to-face acute and emergency care of sick and injured children.”

Dr Sidney Sunwoo, an emergency children's specialist, who has created a video medical consultation service with paediatric specialists around Australia. Picture: supplied

Between 2020-21, nearly nine million Australians were admitted to emergency departments in public hospitals.

Young children aged 0-4 years had one of the highest rates of presentations to emergency departments across all age groups in Australia.

NSW had the highest rate of admissions for children aged 0 to 14 years, with more than 341,000 children admitted to the EDs, followed by nearly 183,000 in Victoria and more than 195,000 in Queensland.

Co-founder of KidsOnCall Associate Professor Sandy Hopper, who has spent more than 20 years experience in emergency care of sick children, said the he expects to see thousands of parents accessing the app especially with hospitals under immense strain.

“KidsDocOnCall can manage any non life and limb threatening condition that would typically present to the emergency department, such as coughs, fevers, rashes, tummy pains and minor injuries,” he said.

“Children with severe pain, major injuries, breathing difficulties, and a decreased conscious state should access urgent face-to-face care.”

Nearly 9 million Australians were admitted to the emergency department in public hospitals between 2020-21. Photo: Rob Williams

President of the Royal Australian College of Physicians Professor John Wilson said the pandemic caused an enormous surge in hospital activity “beginning at the front door in the emergency department”.

“The strain on EDs is the greatest ever seen in this country. Our time-honoured model of care has been challenged by the volume of work, the infectivity of the virus, fatigue associated with the uncertainty of the future and the perpetual change of resourcing the system,” Prof Wilson said.

“New telehealth apps will significantly contribute to better health equity, while relieving pressure on hospital resources.”

“And there are opportunities for hospitals to partner with general practitioners to reduce attendances.”

President of the RACP Professor John Wilson

Dr Sunwoo said with children back at school and transmissions of Covid-19 expected to rise, parents will be increasingly more reliant on accessing immediate help.