❓ Ms McHale questions the Minister for Health regarding home visits by child health nurses, eligibility criteria, allocated hours, and data collection accuracy. The Minister acknowledges data collection issues and provides limited estimates due to inaccuracies.
AnsweredQoN 338Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
338. Ms McHALE to the Minister for Health:
(1) Are home visits conducted by child health nurses who are employed by the WA Health Department, the Metropolitan Health Services Board or Rural Health Services?
(2) If yes, under what circumstances are new mothers considered eligible for a home visit?
(3) What were the average hours a week allocated to home visits in metropolitan Perth and country Western Australia, in the following financial years -
(a) 1994/95;
(b) 1995/96;
(c) 1996/97;
(d) 1997/98;
(e) 1998/99; and
(f) 1999/00?
(4) How many average hours have been allocated to home visits in the 2000/2001 financial year for -
(a) metropolitan Perth; and
(b) non metropolitan WA?
(5) Is every home visit or clinic appointment conducted by a child health nurse recorded and coded on a data collection sheet?
(6) If yes, how many home visits were conducted in the following years -
(a) 1992;
(b) 1993;
(c) 1994;
(d) 1995;
(e) 1996;
(f) 1997;
(g) 1998;
(h) 1999; and
(i) so far in 2000?
(1) Are home visits conducted by child health nurses who are employed by the WA Health Department, the Metropolitan Health Services Board or Rural Health Services?
(2) If yes, under what circumstances are new mothers considered eligible for a home visit?
(3) What were the average hours a week allocated to home visits in metropolitan Perth and country Western Australia, in the following financial years -
(a) 1994/95;
(b) 1995/96;
(c) 1996/97;
(d) 1997/98;
(e) 1998/99; and
(f) 1999/00?
(4) How many average hours have been allocated to home visits in the 2000/2001 financial year for -
(a) metropolitan Perth; and
(b) non metropolitan WA?
(5) Is every home visit or clinic appointment conducted by a child health nurse recorded and coded on a data collection sheet?
(6) If yes, how many home visits were conducted in the following years -
(a) 1992;
(b) 1993;
(c) 1994;
(d) 1995;
(e) 1996;
(f) 1997;
(g) 1998;
(h) 1999; and
(i) so far in 2000?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
14 November 2000
Response time
97 days
The Minister Replied:
(1) Home visits are conducted by Child Health Nurses who are employed by the Metropolitan Health Service Board and Rural Health Services.
(2) All new mothers are considered eligible for a home visit. In some maternity units the midwives and/or liaison nurses assess who should receive priority for home visits.
(3) This information is not collected in a manner that has been requested. It is not possible to retrospectively collect this data. The Health Department of Western Australia (HDWA) is in the process of addressing data collection and integrity issues that have been brought to the Department's attention.
(4) The information is not collected in a manner that has been requested.
(a) A home visit by a Child Health Nurse in the metropolitan area takes on average 1-2 hours.
(b) A home visit by a Child Health Nurse in the rural areas takes on average 2-3 hours per visit.
(5) There are currently both paper and computer based systems being used to record data resulting in inaccuracies in data collection in some health services. The HDWA has recognised that information technology is limited throughout Community Health services largely due to the numerous service sites that are often in locations remote from health services. To overcome the disparity in information/data collection the HDWA is investing in infrastructure to provide community health nurses with portable computer systems to enable direct entry of data. This will significantly improve the accuracy and timeliness of data collection to reflect the actual workload undertaken by Child Health Nurses.
(6) The database record of home visits is, for the reasons stated above, not accurate. Therefore the figures provided are estimates only. 1998 HDWA Community Health database records show that 37% of all new mothers accepted the offer of a home visit. However, discussion with health service providers indicate a more accurate figure would be 45% of new mothers accepting the offer of a home visit. To provide historical data by year as requested will require significant cost and time delay and the information will be inaccurate and not truly reflect the work undertaken by Child Health Nurses in providing home visits to mothers and newborns.
(1) Home visits are conducted by Child Health Nurses who are employed by the Metropolitan Health Service Board and Rural Health Services.
(2) All new mothers are considered eligible for a home visit. In some maternity units the midwives and/or liaison nurses assess who should receive priority for home visits.
(3) This information is not collected in a manner that has been requested. It is not possible to retrospectively collect this data. The Health Department of Western Australia (HDWA) is in the process of addressing data collection and integrity issues that have been brought to the Department's attention.
(4) The information is not collected in a manner that has been requested.
(a) A home visit by a Child Health Nurse in the metropolitan area takes on average 1-2 hours.
(b) A home visit by a Child Health Nurse in the rural areas takes on average 2-3 hours per visit.
(5) There are currently both paper and computer based systems being used to record data resulting in inaccuracies in data collection in some health services. The HDWA has recognised that information technology is limited throughout Community Health services largely due to the numerous service sites that are often in locations remote from health services. To overcome the disparity in information/data collection the HDWA is investing in infrastructure to provide community health nurses with portable computer systems to enable direct entry of data. This will significantly improve the accuracy and timeliness of data collection to reflect the actual workload undertaken by Child Health Nurses.
(6) The database record of home visits is, for the reasons stated above, not accurate. Therefore the figures provided are estimates only. 1998 HDWA Community Health database records show that 37% of all new mothers accepted the offer of a home visit. However, discussion with health service providers indicate a more accurate figure would be 45% of new mothers accepting the offer of a home visit. To provide historical data by year as requested will require significant cost and time delay and the information will be inaccurate and not truly reflect the work undertaken by Child Health Nurses in providing home visits to mothers and newborns.
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