Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Children and Youth Health Statewide Clinical Network

About the network

The Chil­dren and Youth Health Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work (SCN) works to improve health out­comes for chil­dren and young peo­ple across South Aus­tralia by tak­ing a whole-of-sys­tem, whole-of-child and fam­i­ly approach across the full con­tin­u­um of care.

We bring togeth­er clin­i­cians, health pro­fes­sion­als and con­sumers from across met­ro­pol­i­tan and region­al South Australia. 

The SCN active­ly seeks the lived expe­ri­ence of chil­dren, young peo­ple and their fam­i­lies to help inform health sys­tem pri­or­i­ties, plan­ning and deci­sion making.

Our role

  • Pro­vide clin­i­cal lead­er­ship and strate­gic advice to improve health out­comes for babies (exclud­ing new­borns), chil­dren and young peo­ple across South Australia.
  • Sup­port statewide con­sul­ta­tion and advice on child and youth health priorities.
  • Con­nect and coor­di­nate clin­i­cians, ser­vice providers, the CEIH and gov­er­nance bod­ies across the sys­tem by facil­i­tat­ing two-way com­mu­ni­ca­tion between the SCN mem­bers and the broad­er health system.
  • Sup­port the devel­op­ment, adop­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion of evi­dence-based mod­els of care aligned with state and nation­al guide­lines and standards.
  • Enable con­sumer, car­er and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment, with a focus on Abo­rig­i­nal chil­dren and young peo­ple and oth­er pri­or­i­ty populations.

Our focus

Our focus is shaped by mem­ber exper­tise, con­sumer voic­es, sys­tem pri­or­i­ties and emerg­ing evidence. 

We place the needs, pref­er­ences and voic­es of chil­dren and young peo­ple at the cen­tre of health­care plan­ning and deliv­ery across South Australia.

We focus on:

  • improv­ing child and youth health through a coor­di­nat­ed, sys­tem-wide approach
  • sup­port­ing ear­ly inter­ven­tion, inte­grat­ed mod­els of care, and youth-informed, fam­i­ly-cen­tred services
  • pro­mot­ing the use of data to reduce unwar­rant­ed vari­a­tion and iden­ti­fy ser­vice gaps
  • strength­en­ing work­force capa­bil­i­ty and capac­i­ty to deliv­er high-qual­i­ty, evi­dence-informed care.

Our peo­ple

Children and Youth Health Statewide Clinical Network Members
John WidgerClin­i­cal Co-Lead of the Chil­dren and Youth Health SCN; Med­ical Direc­tor, Divi­sion of Pae­di­atric Med­i­cine, WCHN
Dimi SimatosClin­i­cal Co-Lead of the Chil­dren and Youth Health SCN; Con­sul­tant Pae­di­a­tri­cian, NALHN
Alice Rum­boldPrin­ci­pal Research Fel­low (Human Milk & Lac­ta­tion), SAHMRI
Jem­ma AndersonStaff spe­cial­ist and Med­ical Unit Head, Ado­les­cent Ward, WCHN
Mered­ith ForsythCon­sul­tant Pae­di­a­tri­cian, SALHN
Mohammed UsmanClin­i­cal Direc­tor, CAMHS
Pen­ny NeedGP and Senior Med­ical Edu­ca­tor, RACGP
Maeve DownsNurs­ing direc­tor, NALHN
Sathi­asee­lan (Preg­gie) NairPae­di­a­tri­cian, LCLHN
Rebec­ca DunnNurs­ing Direc­tor, SALHN
Ella Glee­sonNurse Unit Man­ag­er, WCHN
Wendy ThieleAdvanced Clin­i­cal lead Ear­ly Child­hood CHAD Pro­gram, BHFLHN
Shel­ley FarrentAllied Health Clin­i­cal Reform, Pae­di­atrics, SALHN
Jonathan LoaderInter­im Man­ag­er Gor­don McK­ay Child Devel­op­ment Unit, NALHN
Mirella Vagnarel­liDirec­tor of Child and Fam­i­ly Health Ser­vice, CaFHS
Kate OsborneData and Sys­tems Child Health Pol­i­cy Unit, DHW
Kel­ly BakerCon­sumer representative
Lana Ear­le-Ban­dar­alageCon­sumer representative


includ­ing rotat­ing mem­bers from the CEIH Youth Advi­so­ry Group.

Our work

  • Pro­vide expert advice into the SA Clin­i­cal Ser­vices Capa­bil­i­ty Frame­work review to sup­port effi­cient ser­vice planning.
Key documents and resources

Get involved

To learn more or get involved in the Chil­dren and Youth Health Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work, email CEIH.​ChildrenYouthHealth@​sa.​gov.​au.