Table of Contents

51
20 March 2012
me being about to survive the arrival of a newborn. No reading or advice can
prepare you for the birth of baby, and without the support of the clinic nurses
I would not have a healthy thriving baby like I do. They have provided me
with not only advice on the development of my baby but provided me with
advice on how to cope with a newborn. This service has been provided to
mother's for the past 95 years, even my mother and grandmother
remembers visiting a child health nurse
.
There are many reasons why this service should stay, these are just a few:
• It is not just the vulnerable and marginalised families that need support,
advice and help - every parent needs access to this service.
• There will be significant increases in Post Natal Depression as without
these nurses to spot the early signs there will be mum's in serious
trouble of developing this condition. This will place a significant burden
on our already under pressure health system.
• GP's are not equipped with the necessary equipment to provide
assessments or may not chose to provide this service to mothers. There
is currently a shortage of GP in Tasmania, re-directing parents to GPs
will put added pressure of the health system with many parents then
taking children to the LGH.
• There will be many babies that don't go to GP clinics, which could result
in a number of illnesses/problems that will be missed. Early detection of
some illnesses can easily be managed, if missed they will then place the
burden on our already under pressure hospitals.
• There will be a significant increase in bottle fed babies and not breast
feed babies, as these clinic nurses promote breastfeeding and provide
advice to help mother's successfully feed their babies. Some mothers
would give up easily, without the support from these nurses."
• In a recent survey of more than 1000 Australian Women surveyed, 87
per cent said rearing kids made them feel isolated. It is not just the
vulnerable and marginalised that can feel isolated when a newborn
arrives. Sleep deprivation, feeding issues and an unsettled baby can be
isolating issues for all parents.
I could continue to go on with many other reasons to why this service should
stay. It is a hard issue for parents to lobby about, as they are a group of
people that have little time available to dedicate to fighting for this cause.
I understand that the State Government needs to make cuts to the budgets,
but not to this service. This is a front line service that is extremely valuable to
the community. The Minister for Health is a mother herself and would have
used this service and would know how valuable this is to parent's and
babies.
I feel very strongly about this issue and have written to Minister Michelle
O'Bryne (unfortunately no response to date), I have spoken with the Shadow
Minister for Health, Jeremy Rockliff and also Liberal MP Peter Gutwein. I
liaised with Alison Andrews from the Examiner who was able to run a front
page story about the issue. I have written letters to the Editor and am
assisting the Child Health Association of Tasmania to gather signatures for
their petition they will be presenting to parliament in April.
As a representative of our community and a parent, I highly encourage you
to bring a motion to Council stating: