Serious concerns over Code Brown pause on baby health checks

Child and maternal health checks in Melbourne have been suspended, with nurses redeployed during Victoria’s hospital Code Brown.

Babies under eight weeks and vulnerable babies can still access maternal care, but many services for older infants have been paused.

Mary Parks, who recently retired but was a midwife and maternal health nurse for 50 years, says the suspension is nonsensical and could have serious health consequences.

“The maternal and child health service is there to monitor the health of mothers and babies and try to prevent hospitalisations,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“Under this Code Brown, why would you cut back a service that’s trying to prevent hospitalisations?”

Ms Parks doesn’t know how suspended appointments will be caught up.

“There’s going to be a great backlog and they’ll never catch up. How are they going to catch up?”

Press PLAY below to hear the ramifications the suspension of baby health checks may have

In a powerful emotional phone call, Melissa said her son’s “very, very serious” hip dysplasia was picked up at a maternal and child health appointment before the pandemic struck.

She said her subsequent child health appointments were cancelled, so if the health problem hadn’t been detected then, her son may have reached 18 months before it was noticed.

“If we had missed that, and we then did miss pretty much every appointment after that until last year, he wouldn’t have potentially been diagnosed until he was 18 months old, which would have put him way behind the eight-ball,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“He’s had surgery, he’s had casts, he’s had braces, he’s still got ongoing treatment. It was just only picked up because of that maternal child health appointment.

“They’re just so important. It’s just really negligent that the government would think they’re not a priority.”

Press PLAY below to hear the powerful call