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Child Health in New Zealand

Well Child questions and answers

What are Well Child services?
Well Child Tamariki Ora services are a screening, education and support service offered to all New Zealand children and their families or whanau from birth to 5 years. The services assist and support families and whanau to improve and protect their children’s health.

Well Child services are provided by registered nurses and community health workers /kaiawhina) with specific training in child health. The current Well Child Schedule includes 12 health checks (contacts) with 8 of these offered to children aged from 6 weeks to 5 years. At present not all children receive all 12 contacts.

First time parents and families requiring extra support are offered additional contacts. Some contacts are carried out in the home and others in clinics or community facilities.

What is the Well Child Framework?
The Well Child Tamariki Ora Framework and the associated Well Child/Tamariki Ora National Schedule Handbook were agreed in 2002-2003. The aim of the Framework is to support families/whanau to maximise their children’s health status and developmental potential from birth to five years, establishing a strong foundation for ongoing healthy development.

The Framework consists of a service delivery framework and a pricing framework. The schedule incorporates the key public health concepts of supportive environments, disease prevention, and health promotion.

How much is spent on Well Child services?
Currently the Government spends around $49 million dollars per year on Well Child Tamariki Ora services. The services are delivered by a variety of providers including Maori and Pacific providers. Some additional Well Child services are funded through dental, maternity and primary care budgets.

What is the Well Child Framework Review and how did it come about?
The Government requested that the Ministry of Health undertake a review of the Well Child Framework. This request reflects Government’s ongoing commitment to child health and the need to ensure that Well Child services effectively meet the needs of children and their families.

How many Well Child checks are currently carried out?
The Ministry does not currently have a national register of Well Child contacts; however Plunket and some District Health Boards maintain registers of Well Child events delivered by their providers. Each child is entitled to eight Well Child contacts from six weeks to five years of age including the B4 School Check.

The review of the Well Child Framework has highlighted the importance of national standards for information management to record Well Child service provision. A National Immunisation Register is already in place to record immunisation events.

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Page last updated: 23 January 2009