Children and babies in parts of west Dublin continue to miss vital health checks due to an ongoing shortage of public health nurses.
The lack of nursing staff is affecting the youngest children, with developmental assessments either delayed or unavailable, reports RTE.
The HSE has said it is attempting to resolve the issue, but local representatives and nursing unions insist that urgent intervention is now required.
Ordinarily, the HSE provides a series of assessments within the first 72 hours and again at different stages — 3 months, 9-11 months, 21-24 months and 46-48 months, reports RTE.
These checks, performed by public health nurses, ensure children are healthy and progressing as expected. But in some west Dublin areas, only the initial check is consistently being carried out.
“As a first time mommy, you hope you’re doing the best for your child. But, it’s the public health nurse, they have the training for this, and they know what the milestones are to be looking out for,” said Siubhán Uà Cheallaigh, a mother of one living in Lucan, reports RTE.
Her daughter, now 14 months old, received both the initial assessment and the three-month check.
However, Siubhán said she was told the ten-month check was no longer available and that the two-year and four-year reviews were unlikely due to staffing shortages, reports RTE.
“It’s disappointing, because you would like for your daughter or son to get the same access to services that are made available to other people across the country,
“It’s just in case you missed something … I talk to my mom, I talk to my friends who have children, and I try and read up about stuff. I’m trying to keep an eye out for everything that I should be – what are the different milestones that my daughter needs to meet?
“But I don’t have the trained eye for that. I suppose the public health nurse does. And my daughter isn’t being able to avail of that service,” she said, reports RTE.
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Local representatives, including Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward, say the problem has persisted for years and continues to affect hundreds of families.
“I have parents contact me all the time that are not getting the full developmental checks for their children. The parents are terribly worried that they might miss something,” he said, reports RTE.
“The brain develops most in the first five years of a child’s life than any other stage [in] their life. And at this moment, in Dublin midwest, children are only getting their development check in the first three days of when they’re being born, after that, parents are on their own,” reports RTE.
He is seeking additional staff and an explanation for why his area is being particularly affected by the shortage.
‘I’d like to see the HSE do an investigation into why Dublin midwest seems to be an outlier and not like the rest of the country, and to see why we’re having trouble in retaining and recruiting public health nurses … This is a postcode lottery of services, and it shouldn’t be happening,” Mr Ward said, reports RTE.
In a statement, the HSE said recruiting and keeping public health nurses has been a long-standing challenge, especially in the wider Dublin region.
It said that nationally 98% of babies receive a check within their first three days at home and 84% get their 9-11 month assessment on time, reports RTE.
However, in parts of west Dublin these standards are not being reached, with recent figures showing only around 35% of babies receive their 9-11 month check on schedule.
The local HSE apologised to affected families but said efforts to resolve recruitment difficulties are ongoing, reports RTE.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said delayed or missed checks stem from severe understaffing.
In a statement, it said the number of Public Health Nurses has remained “effectively static” for five years despite significant increases in community demand, and it called for annual training capacity to rise from 160 to 240 places, reports RTE.
The HSE said parents who have “specific concerns” about their child’s development should contact the Public Health Nurse Service directly.
It said the service is currently triaging calls, discussing concerns with families, and offering further support where possible, reports RTE.
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