There are fears health issues in babies could be going undetected as infant and maternal health checks remain suspended in parts of Melbourne’s west due to a shortage of workers.
Early childhood and maternal care experts warned the ongoing limits to the free service meant some parents were relying on blogs instead to find health information about their child’s development.
The Department of Health enacted an initial six-week pause on maternal checks for babies aged over eight weeks on 28 January while a “code brown” was in place in hospitals across Victoria.
The emergency measure, designed to ease pressure on hospitals caused by a surge in Covid cases, allowed the state’s health workforce to be redeployed which meant specialist nurses were unavailable to conduct the regular infant checks.
Despite the code brown ending in mid-February, long-term workforce shortages and a Covid-driven baby boom have meant some councils were still unable to offer the service. Wyndham City Council is still only conducting maternal checks on babies aged under eight weeks. At Melton City Council, the service is paused for babies four months and over.
Jennifer Weber, chief executive of Caroline Chisholm Society, said the ongoing pause was a “worrying” trend because maternal checks played a vital role in early screening for heath problems, providing referrals and identifying risk factors like domestic violence and postnatal depression.
“This is your universal service, and it’s not operating as a universal service,” she told Guardian Australia.
“How much more can this system be put under this pressure before somebody says enough is enough?”
The maternal checks – a free service offered by all local councils – monitors babies’ key development factors like weight and diet and provides support and advice for parents.
Weber said the service was receiving reports of parents using blogs to find out information because they were unable to see a maternal and child health nurse.
“Families are reporting things like – their babies are not smiling. So then where do families go to [get] their information?
“We don’t want mothers having to then go to blogs to find out: ‘Is this where my child should be in their development?’”
Weber said Caroline Chisholm Society advocated for increased funding for family service organisations to partner with maternal health services to relieve some of the pressure and ensure parents and babies did not “slip into vulnerability”.
She said specialised maternal health nurses – nurses who have trained as midwives and have qualifications in maternal and child health – were an ageing workforce, with code brown “exposing that risk”.
“If you’ve got a child under the age of two, who has eyes on the situation with a mum and a family to get the best outcome?” she said.
The pandemic has compounded nurse and midwifery shortages. In July last year, the Andrews government announced a $13.2m investment to ease pressures on the state’s maternity services, after reports of understaffed maternity wards and women giving birth in emergency rooms and corridors. But the six-month funding has now run out.
Opposition health spokesperson, Georgie Crozier, a former midwife, said maternal and child health checks were critical in detecting developmental delays, feeding problems and family violence issues.
“For these services not to be reinstated to some of Victoria’s most vulnerable mothers and babies is putting them at further risk,” she said.
The Greens’ deputy leader and emergency services spokesperson, Ellen Sandell, called on the state government to undertake a “comprehensive” review of Victoria’s perinatal care to fix long-term workforce issues.
“Women, parents and babies are not getting the quality of care they deserve at the most vulnerable time of their lives and midwives and nurses are being pushed to the brink. Victoria needs to do better,” she said.
During the pause, Indigenous families, vulnerable children and those with additional needs are still able to access the maternal check service.
The Municipal Association of Victoria, the peak body for local councils, said there were a “small number of councils” unable to resume maternal checks at full capacity.
“We are currently working with the Department of Health and Safer Care Victoria on short and medium term strategies to help councils work towards full capacity,” MAV’s chief executive, Kerry Thompson, said.
Wyndham City Council said it was monitoring the situation closely and ensuring families had alternative support options. Melton City Council said it was driving a recruitment campaign to attract qualified maternal and child health nurses, and urged the state government to create incentives for nurses to move into the specialisation.
The government has warned the peak from the Omicron subvariant – predicted to occur this month – will result in “several hundred” extra hospitalisations each day. The state’s peak hospital body has warned it could result in worsening staff shortages and a reduction in elective surgery procedures.
Families unable to get an appointment are advised to call Victoria’s 24-hour Maternal and Child Health Line on 13 22 29 or visit their GP.
