The benefit of an integrated child health service, where patient care is provided by joint working across primary and secondary care, has been recognised for almost 50 years,1 and is advocated today by many institutions including the Nuffield Trust,2 the King’s Fund3 and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).4 Three models of integrated care in a paediatric outpatient setting have been described.5 One of these three models, the ‘cluster clinic model’, found that after 12 months of being introduced first across Aberdeen City (an urban area) and then also across Aberdeenshire (a rural area), there was reduced time between referral and being seen in clinic, and an increased proportion of referrals being resolved without the need for a clinic review.6 The data …