By Casey Neill
There are not enough maternal child health nurses to cope with a baby boom in Keysborough.
Parents are having scheduled visits delayed by months, causing concerns about monitoring their child’s development.
Richelle McClelland has an 18-month-old son and a daughter, four months.
“I found with my little boy, the nurse had been sick a few times – which isn’t their fault – but then they weren’t able to reschedule appointments for us until three months later,” she said.
“It’s concerning when you’re a new parent and you want to find out things.
“Even with him starting solids, you’re delayed because you don’t have a maternal child health nurse to talk to.
“You’re left to access other resources on your own.”
Ms McClelland is a nurse so she benefited from her own knowledge.
“But it’s nice to have that face-to-face contact,” she said.
“They can check milestones, and that their development is on track.”
She didn’t receive a home visit with her daughter until she was three weeks old.
“At that time I was having a bit of postnatal depression and didn’t really have that support to talk about and to know,” she said.
“I was fortunate enough I had her privately, so I was able to access the midwife at the hospital and they were my main support.”
Ms McClelland said the nurses were great but more were needed.
Greater Dandenong councillor Matthew Kirwan raised the issue at the Monday 11 September council meeting.
He said he’d received reports that Springside Kindergarten was set up as a maternal and child health centre but had no nurse.
He said one resident suggested approaching nurses from hospitals who were interested in extra shifts.
Community services director Martin Fidler said maternal child health nurses had specific training so this was not an option.
He said there’d been a 5 per cent increase in birth notifications for Keysborough over the past 12 months.
Mr Fidler confirmed that Springside was set up as a maternal and child health centre.
“If we had the nurses we could provide additional services there,” he said.
He said maternal child health staff had increased in Greater Dandenong but so had appointments, and that parents were being referred to other centres if they could drive.
Mr Fidler said there was a shortage of maternal child health nurses across the state and the council was actively recruiting by talking to universities and graduate nurses.
The council has also contacted neighbouring shires about sharing resources.
Cr Kirwan questioned whether the area was difficult to recruit for.
“We haven’t actually got the easiest clients,” he said.
But Mr Fidler said the council’s team of about 35 nurses valued an “interesting and complex day-to-day experience”.
“When we’re recruiting, nurses say they like the challenge,” he said.
