Winner: Health Equity Award
Children and young adults with intellectual disability often show challenging behaviours, which can make routine blood tests outside of hospital settings difficult.
The Hospital Avoidance for Blood Tests in Intellectual Disability Care project, in South Western Sydney Local Health District, developed a community-based, tiered blood collection pathway service that focuses on patient-centred care and equity.
A partnership with a large private pathology provider allowed for blood collection in familiar, non-hospital environments such as schools and homes, as recommended by carers.
The first stage involved 14 children with severe behavioural challenges, resulting in 82% success across 17 school-based collection attempts. After the establishment of a Specialist Intellectual Disability Health Team, 27 attempts were made for 22 individuals, with an 84% success rate in different community settings. These outcomes show the feasibility and effectiveness of tailored, community-led solutions for blood collection in this population.
Meet the other finalists for the Health Equity Award.
The 2025 Health Equity Award is proudly sponsored by LeasePLUS.
