Australian Doctor Australian Doctor 28th July 2017 | Page 9

News
Autism care needs team approach
RACHEL WORSLEY
GPs have seen a dramatic
rise in consultations for
psychological care of young
people with autism spec-
trum disorders (ASD), Aus-
tralian figures show.
The number of ASD
cases encountered by GPs
increased eightfold from
46 per 100,000 encounters
to 386 between 2000 and
2013, according to analysis
of BEACH data.
Most of the ASD consults
were for children aged 5-9,
and were for psychological
symptoms, social issues and
also “filling in forms”, the
University of NSW study
has found.
Researchers say the rise
in presentations of ASD
has created a “clinical bot-
tleneck” and show that GPs
require specific support and
tailored tools to help diag-
nose, manage and refer chil-
dren with the condition.
Melbourne GP Dr Karyn
Alexander, who has an
interest in child health,
agrees that GPs may have
trouble managing psycho-
logical difficulties in chil-
dren with autism, but she
does not believe upskilling
is the only answer.
“Children do need long-
term care and GPs can
support in that care, but
multidisciplinary input is
important for long-term
outcomes,” she says.
The study also highlights
the need for GPs to be able
to tap into an easily acces-
sible professional referral
network, like networks for
mental health professionals,
Dr Alexander says.
“I don’t think it’s just a
case of going to an online
resource all the time.
“GPs like to know who
they are referring to, they
like to have confidence in
paediatricians and the allied
health services they are refer-
ring to.
“The only things we’ve
got at our disposal are GP
mental health plans and
psychological services like
speech therapy.
“But we need a multidisci-
plinary team behind the GP
to help the child go through
school and later life.”
Autism 2017; online.
Plan to
relax CAM
ad rules
Dr Karyn Alexander doesn’t
believe upskilling is the answer.
FOR FORMULA FED INFANTS
GEIR O’ROURKE
THE makers of horny goat
weed, reiki crystals and other
alternative therapies could
soon be allowed to approve
their own advertising — but
will face stiffer penalties if they
break the law.
Legislation to be introduced
in Federal Parliament in coming
months will scrap pre-approval
for marketing of over-the-
counter and complementary
medicines from June 2018.
Presently, responsibility
for pre-approval lies with two
industry bodies, the Australian
Self Medication Industry (ASMI)
and Complementary Medicines
Australia (CMA).
ASMI, which opposes the
planned shake-up, checks
roughly 1300 advertisements
annually for OTC and
complementary medicines.
About two-thirds are sent back
for alteration for breaching TGA
advertising rules.
CMA, which only
handles print marketing for
complementary medicines,
checks another 800 per year,
rejecting about one-fifth.
Department of Health
Deputy Secretary Professor
John Skerritt says the reforms
are part of an a