A guide to the 3-year-old health check for general practice.

BACKGROUND

A Medicare-funded 3-year-old health check is being introduced from November 2026 as part of Thriving Kids. Most key developmental milestones are expected to be met in the first 3 years. By age 3 years, more than one in five children have at least one developmental vulnerability, hence this is a timely opportunity for early recognition and support.

OBJECTIVE

This article outlines how to perform a general practice 3-year-old health check by applying the health assessment framework to a case study.

DISCUSSION: The strength of the ongoing relationship between a general practitioner (GP), a child and their family means general practice is ideally placed to assess a child's development and wellbeing with awareness of their broader community context. GPs can provide monitoring, education, supports and/or referral where appropriate. The opportunity is not simply to detect delay earlier, but to convert a trusted GP relationship into timely developmental support, parental capacity-building and practical community connection.