About that Plunket petition...
How quickly misinformation spreads.
This morning I woke up to around 40-odd messages from parents asking if I knew if “that Plunket petition” was accurate. I applaud those who actually went looking for answers before signing at least. But it does show just how quickly misinformation can spread.
The petition was short, included no further information and simply said the following with no other background or evidence:
“Labour have sneakily decided to limit who Plunket Nurses can see. Plunket nurses can no longer see babies over 15 weeks old unless babies and families are of Māori/Pasifika decent and some other babies who have higher needs such as falling in the premature category. The government have left our Plunket nurses to face the backlash of this, there has been little to no consultation and it has been done in an extremely sneaky way! Let’s take this back to Jacinda and her government and demand some answers and some solutions so that we can make Plunket accessible to all families like it has been for many years!”
I contacted Whānau Āwhina Plunket (something literally anyone can do). I suggested they go line-by-line to respond to the newsletter but there wasn’t any need to since “every claim is false”.
A Whānau Āwhina Plunket spokesperson said the petition is based on misinformation.
“This information is incorrect. The Government has not limited who our nurses can see. We are here for all Kiwi whānau and families who need us.”
“The way in which people routinely access and receive our services will depend on their level of need. Everyone will still be able to access our services.”
Biddle says nurses are dealing with large caseloads. “On average, there are over 700 whānau and families per full-time nurse – and for some, this number is more than 1000. Our nurses and kaiāwhina are out there every day doing their best for their community and the whānau they work with. A bit of kindness and understanding goes a long way.”
Indeed, the petition is a strange shot at an organisation that relies on donations.
“A lot of people also don’t realise we are a charity, as well as Aotearoa’s largest support service for the health and wellbeing of children under five and their whānau. We rely on donations, partnerships and grants to help us continue to deliver our valuable services for whānau and communities.”
As I write this, more than 3000 people have signed the petition. It was only published yesterday. Chances are this Whānau Āwhina Plunket clarification won’t be spread nearly as far. And those who will be harmed by it are the overworked and underresourced nurses and kaiāwhina of Plunket and those who don’t see Plunket because they mistakenly believe they don’t qualify for support. That certainly doesn’t seem like it was the aim. And yet - here we are.
Further response from Plunket:
I contacted Plunket with concerns parents have shared on my Facebook page. This is what they came back with:
We’ve heard from some parents too and it seems that there may be some areas where nurses are cancelling appointments, and their reasoning is causing some of this confusion. We’re looking into it at our end, but can confirm we do not have a policy of not seeing non-Māori or Pasifika babies after a certain age (there are some mixed messages there too, some people say 15 weeks, other 15 months, so we’re trying to get to the bottom of it).
Like the rest of the health care sector, our resources are stretched. This means our frontline staff have to use their experience to target our resources to the people who most need them. In some places where our nurses have very high caseloads, we’re offering alternatives to in-home visits such as drop-in clinics (no appointment needed), or a call with our PlunketLine nurses (who are available 24/7), but we are keen to let everyone know we are here to help when people need us.
We know our nurses are under pressure, so we’re working on putting together guidance to help our them balance and manage their caseloads, including how they can make sure they’re letting their clients know about all the support available through the broader Whānau Āwhina Plunket services.
I didn’t know they were a charity. Perhaps we should be petitioning the government to fund them as an essential health service instead of . . . this.
Yes better comms by Plunket might have prevented this turning into a vehicle for anti government and racist rants on social media.
The Ministry of Health commissioned a report into the Tamariki Ora Well Child Service and it is available to read on the website - published late last year. Interesting reading and they are definitely trying to get more equity into the system. They talk about codesigning a new model of delivery - which given the dates stated they must be doing now.
Plunket themselves did a consultation using codesign principles with staff, whaanau and others a couple of years ago. What happened to that I don’t know.
Whatever is install for the service it needs to have some universal aspects and some that are more targeted and funded better.
We have something pretty unique here in NZ and are the envy of many overseas even though it is far from perfect. I hope we can improve on it and reduce the current inequities.