Child health under review

By Callan Date
CASEY’S maternal and child health service will undergo an independent audit.
Councillors voted at a council meeting on Tuesday night that a consultant, appointed by the Department of Human Services, undertake the full review.
Debate has raged since the News last month reported claims from Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan that the health of young children was being put at risk by practices at Casey’s maternal and child health (MCH) centres.
However, Casey director of community services Jennie Lee strenuously denied any child’s health was being jeopardised.
Ms Lee did confirm there was a shortage of qualified MCH nurses working in the City of Casey but said measures were in place to address the issue.
She said Casey currently employ the equivalent of 20 full time MCH nurses. Department of Human Services standards require 32 MCH nurses to work in the city.
“I believe we have done everything we can do at the moment to make sure we get enough MCH nurses,” Ms Lee said.
Councillor Kevin Bradford told the meeting that 91 Casey mothers had contacted him to express their concern over various issues with the city’s maternal and child health service.
He questioned the level of service being provided to parents with children over 18 months old and also the current waiting times to see a MCH nurse on Saturdays.
In response, Ms Lee admitted a 10-question Parent Evaluation Development Status (PEDS) questionnaire had been sent to parents with children over 18 months old to ease the workload on MCH nurses.
However, if a parent had concerns over their child’s health or development and wanted to see a nurse they could, she said.
Ms Lee said three MCH nurses commenced work in January and another four are set to start working this month.
She said there were several factors that were contributing to the difficult task of employing the required number of MCH nurses to work in the City of Casey.
“We have recently had several staff retire and others take long service leave. Illness has also affected some staff members.”
The large number of births in Casey, poor access to tertiary institutions offering MCH qualifications in the south-east and the increasing demand from MCH nurses to work part-time have also contributed, Ms Lee said. Casey has also employed a MCH workforce officer to help develop recruitment campaigns and assist in other areas to attract more MCH nurses.
The audit is expected to take about three months to complete with the DHS and the City of Casey sharing the cost.