GPs should get a Medicare item to fund a universal child development check, according to a Senate inquiry into the Federal Government’s planned Thriving Kids program.

The inquiry’s report, published in December, said the checks would be a gateway to identify children who would benefit from the Thriving Kids program: an alternative to the NDIS for children with autism and developmental delays requiring mild or moderate support, meant to launch in July.

Preschool teachers, rural nurses and paediatric nurses should be given funding to conduct similar checks as alternative gateways into the program, the report said.

It also recommended a new Medicare item for paediatricians to fund yearly patient reviews with structured case conferencing, identical to the Medicare item for geriatricians to review elderly patients.