The Role of Child-Friendly Waiting Environments in Supporting Family-Centred Care

Access to healthcare is influenced by a range of interconnected factors including affordability, workforce availability, geographical location and appointment availability.

Australian governments have invested significantly in improving primary healthcare accessibility through workforce initiatives, digital health expansion and Medicare reforms.

However, increasing recognition is being given to the role that social determinants and environmental factors play in determining whether patients are able to engage with healthcare services.

Patient-centred care frameworks acknowledge that healthcare experiences extend beyond clinical consultations to include every interaction patients have with the healthcare system, including reception areas and waiting environments.

Australia's Current Healthcare Access

The Australian healthcare system continues to perform strongly across many international indicators. However, recent comparisons suggest increasing pressure on primary healthcare services.

The Commonwealth Fund's 2025 International Health Policy Survey identified challenges relating to workforce capacity, care coordination and increasing complexity within primary care across participating countries.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data further indicate that:

• 26.6% of Australians delayed or did not see a GP when needed
• Cost remained the most commonly reported reason
• Appointment availability and waiting times continue to influence healthcare utilisation

While, international evidence identifies childcare responsibilities as a significant contributor to delayed healthcare among women, with more than one-third reporting missed or delayed appointments because of childcare commitments (Gaur et al., 2024). Whereas, Evidence-based healthcare design demonstrates that physical healthcare environments influence patient stress, satisfaction and perceptions of care (Ulrich et al., 2008).

Childcare as an Emerging Barrier to Healthcare

Historically, research examining barriers to healthcare has focused primarily on financial affordability, transport accessibility and health insurance.

Recent literature suggests childcare responsibilities should also be recognised as an important determinant of healthcare utilisation.

A cross-sectional study published in BMC Public Health involving women attending outpatient services found:

The authors concluded that childcare requirements represent an important and frequently overlooked barrier to healthcare access.

Subsequent research published in JAMA Network Open further demonstrated that childcare barriers were independently associated with appointment non-adherence among women attending outpatient services.

The Healthcare Environment and Patient Experience

Environmental design has become an established area of healthcare research over the past two decades.

There is an entire field called Evidence-Based Healthcare Design that examines how the built environment affects patient outcomes. Instead of relying only on childcare research, you could connect three established bodies of evidence:

1. Healthcare accessibility research (Commonwealth Fund, AIHW, ABS)
   • Australians are delaying care.
   • Access barriers are increasing.
2. Childcare barrier research (BMC Public Health, JAMA Network Open)
   • Childcare is a measurable reason women miss appointments.
3. Evidence-Based Design research (The Centre for Health Design, Ulrich et al.)
   • Waiting room environments influence stress, anxiety, satisfaction and patient experience.

Within paediatric settings specifically, studies have reported reductions in anxiety and improved behavioural outcomes where healthcare environments include age-appropriate engagement opportunities.

Research has examined waiting environments for accompanying siblings or children attending adult healthcare appointments, these findings suggest that environmental design should be considered within broader family-centred models of care. For parents attending appointments with young children, the waiting environment introduces additional demands that are largely absent from current discussions of healthcare accessibility. Parents may be required to supervise children for extended and often unpredictable waiting periods while simultaneously preparing for their own consultation. In the absence of appropriate engagement opportunities, children may become restless, increasing parental stress and potentially reducing parents' ability to focus on their own healthcare needs.

Child-Friendly Waiting Environments

Parents attending healthcare appointments with young children face unique practical demands.

Unlike other adult patients, parents may simultaneously manage childcare responsibilities while attempting to communicate health concerns, complete administrative requirements and participate in clinical decision-making.

Simple waiting room interventions may assist in reducing this burden.

Examples include:

• individual colouring activities
• educational activity sheets
• craft packs
• puzzles
• sensory activities
• STEM-based engagement
• children's reading materials

These interventions require relatively low financial investment compared with broader infrastructure improvements and may contribute to calmer waiting environments for patients, families and healthcare staff.

Importantly, existing evidence supports these interventions as strategies for improving patient experience rather than as proven methods for increasing healthcare attendance. Further research is required to determine their direct effect on healthcare utilisation.

Better waiting rooms benefit everyone

Creating child-friendly waiting areas isn't solely about improving the experience for families.

The benefits extend throughout the practice.

As healthcare providers continue to explore practical ways to improve patient experience and reduce barriers to care, creating welcoming, family-friendly waiting environments represents a simple, scalable opportunity. Thoughtfully designed children's activity spaces can help reduce stress for families, support a calmer waiting room environment and contribute to a more positive healthcare experience for patients, carers and staff alike.

Funbox delivers individually packaged children's activity kits specifically suited to waiting room environments. Each activity is individually packaged, allowing healthcare providers to offer children a fresh activity while minimising shared handling of materials within waiting areas. From colouring and craft activities to educational STEM projects and seasonal engagement packs, our solutions help transform waiting time into meaningful, age-appropriate engagement while supporting modern, family-centred healthcare environments.

Because improving healthcare access isn't always about making appointments shorter, sometimes it's about making the experience of attending easier for the families who need care most. 

References

Gaur P, Ganguly AP, Kuo M, et al. Childcare needs as a barrier to healthcare among women in a safety-net health system. BMC Public Health. 2024. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-19125-1

Gaur P, et al. Childcare needs as a barrier to healthcare among women in a safety-net health system. PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38886715/

Gaur P, et al. Full-text article. PubMed Central (PMC). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11181530/

Gaur P, Ganguly AP, et al. Childcare Barriers and Appointment Nonadherence Among Women in a Safety-Net Health System. JAMA Network Open. 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40208589/

Arbaugh S, Malani K, Bilodeau C. Childcare: A Critical Barrier to Women's Health Care. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38937359/