virtualKIDS, an innovative virtual care service, has provided acute care to more than 50,000 children over three years.
To better support culturally and linguistically diverse families caring for unwell children at home, the service developed the Language Bridges initiative. Using service and network data, the team identified priority languages and clinical topics to create “Recognising Serious Illness in Children”, a traffic-light decision tool to help families understand their options to access healthcare. The team also updated key factsheets for parents and produced culturally safe animated videos showing practical home-care skills. Resources were translated into Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin, and Vietnamese, helping more families access trusted health information and supporting the NSW Health Single Digital Front Door initiative.
Within six months, videos received 16,000 YouTube views and the traffic-light tool was adopted by other hospitals beyond the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. Among 174 virtualKIDS survey respondents, including 37 people who speak a language other than English at home, 97% said they received enough information to care for their child. Families described the resources as clear, practical, and confidence-building.
Language Bridges uses existing healthcare services to help families access the right care at the right time through culturally responsive paediatric care.
