Tackling the shortage of public health nurses must be a priority for the sake of child protection.

That’s according to Dr Suzanne Crowe, a consultant in paediatric intensive care.

Dr Crowe told Newstalk Breakfast that the shortage in public health nurses is particularly affecting deprived communities.

“It really arises a lot out of the pandemic, and then there was the recruitment pause that was applied for a couple of years after the pandemic,” she said.

“That meant that, for example, a public health nurse in the community who goes on maternity leave, her role wouldn’t necessarily have been filled.

“That would be a year of no service to that local community, and that’s a long time in a child’s life.”

Nurse examining baby girl (2-5 months) with otoscope. Image: Cultura. 8 July 2022

Dr Crowe said that there are many developmental phases that take place in the first few years of a child’s life that public health nurses would assess and check up on.

“If [a child] misses the checks, then it means that if there’s a problem with the baby as they’re growing and developing, it may not be noticed,” she said.

“You would hope that the mam or dad would bring the baby to the local GP nurse, and they’d be doing vaccinations as well.

“It might be picked up on at that point, but it’s the public health nurse who is the specialist.”

'Very patchy'

According to Dr Crowe, there is currently a deficit of around 600 public health nurses across the country.

“Unfortunately, the areas where they’re really struggling to get public health nurses are exactly the same areas where there are less GP’s and less GP nurses, and also less community social workers,” she said.

“So, you can see how that safety net that should be protecting young children in the community is very, very patchy at the moment.”

Dr Crowe said the impact of this shortage would be felt particularly by families living in temporary accommodation.

New parents admiring new born baby boy. Image: Connect Images / Alamy. 6 October 2017

In Ireland, every child is entitled to several free health and development checks from just after they are born until the age of five.

Babies get checkups immediately after birth, during their first week at home and again before they are six weeks old.

They are also entitled to a key development check between the ages of nine and 11 months, where the public health nurse will examine their physical, social and behavioural development.

There are then further development checks just before they turn two, before they turn four and when they start school.

The HSE has instructed any parent who has concerns about their child’s development to contact their GP or Local Public Health Nursing service.

Main image: Nurse playing with baby girl (2-5 months). Alamy.com