City in good health

By Sarah Schwager
CASEY Council has thrown its support behind its maternal and child health (MCH) nurses.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, councillors argued about the state of Casey’s MCH Service after a recent independent audit of the service.
Last week, mayor Colin Butler released a statement saying there was no doubt that over a period of six months from late 2006 to early 2007, some toddlers were seen by four-year university qualified early childhood development workers rather than MCH nurses.
He said this was partly to do with a sharp increase in births in Casey and a shortage of MCH nurses.
Cr Butler said the situation had now been rectified but some media coverage in which the consultant’s report had been leaked had damaged the reputation of Casey’s MCH nurses.
He said a report by council painted a different picture from the consultant’s investigation.
“We have the numbers of nurses now and you will get all your appointments,” he said on Tuesday night, referring to mothers.
“Children out there aren’t at risk. We have the full compliment of nurses, who are performing full services.”
Council officers rejected the findings of a report by consultant Cathryn Curtin, who was recommended by the Department of Human Services (DHS), instead putting forward their own report and recommendations.
At the council meeting, deputy mayor Kevin Bradford put up an alternate recommendation, asking that the consultant’s report be implemented and that the superannuation entitlements and long service leave of MCH nurses be allowed to be transferred from private to public hospital sectors.
“For the first time I am embarrassed to be on this council in relation to this issue,” Cr Bradford said.
“A lot of people on this council should be embarrassed. We have lost the big picture. This issue is about our mums and babies, and providing adequate and professional services to maintain their health.”
Cr Bradford said a review of the MCH Service in 2002 and another one this year meant alarm bells should be ringing.
“When we don’t like something, what do we do? Turn around and attack the credibility of the media and the consultant. Mainly because we don’t like what we’re hearing. Occasionally we need to admit when we are doing something wrong,” he said.
However, Cr Brian Hetherton said the tragedy behind the system had arisen when council had approached DHS explaining it did not have the staff to provide an adequate service to the mums in the community.
“The DHS has come back and done nothing. All they have done is be critical. What they should have done is say here is what you should do and what we will support,” Cr Hetherton said.
“We did what was best available to us, the next best thing.”
Cr Mick Morland said some media reports had put MCH nurses under enormous strain.
“There was a problem months ago with a shortage of nurses and children weren’t being seen. We agree with that,” he said.
“We are not attacking the consultant’s credibility. The officers picked out a number of glaring errors.”
However, Cr Michael Farley said council seemed to be pointing its finger everywhere except at its service.
“The system went down very rapidly and we weren’t able to stay on top of it,” he said. “We now need to move forward from this. Our main focus should be the children in this city getting service second to none. If we can attract more nurses and quality nurses into our system then we should be doing that.”
Cr Farley said it had been sad to see the consultant ridiculed at a private meeting last week.
In the end council went with its original recommendation in a four-three vote that a copy of council’s report on its MCH service be forwarded to the DHS and the State Minister for Children.
It also asked that the consultant’s report be made public and that council note the serious impact the “inaccurate media coverage” of the MCH Service had on its staff.
Cr Morland put up a further motion asking that council hold a function for MCH nurses and staff and that council place an advertisement in local papers praising its nurses and highlighting its regret that the service has been unfairly portrayed in the media over the past six months, however the motion was lost.
Instead, councillors voted that the mayor present a certificate to MCH nurses and support staff to acknowledge their dedication and service to the City of Casey and its residents.