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Super-size me? The plan to move mothers’ groups and baby check-ups out of the suburbs
By Hamish Hastie
Thirteen local child health nurse centres dotted throughout the southern suburbs of Perth will be shut down.
New parents will be familiar with the centres run by Child and Adolescent Health Services, where nurses offer check-ups of babies and toddlers, drop-in appointments for concerned parents, host mothers’ groups and conduct school entry health assessments.
The nurses at local centres help new parents. Credit: iStock
Internal government documents reveal health agencies want to shutter the 13 community health centres in Perth’s south and fold them into a super-sized centre at the new Murdoch medihotel site.
But the revelation has raised concern from the Health Consumers’ Council, which said families of babies and young children preferred health services that were quicker and easier to access.
There are 20 child health centres within nine kilometres of the Murdoch health precinct.
However, more than half would be shut down, said the May 2022 briefing note prepared by the Department of Health’s infrastructure office to update the department’s top brass on leasing arrangements with Hesperia, builder of the Murdoch medihotel.
The note said the resources from the 13 centres would be folded into a new community health hub being established in the medihotel precinct.
“[CAHS] has committed to leasing 2760m2 ... for the relocation and consolidation of 13 community health service sites to a commercially leased regional hub,” the briefing note, obtained under freedom of information laws, said.
The government began investigating the community health “hub and spoke” model in 2020 after recommendations in the 2019 Sustainable Health Review, and set aside $7.2 million to establish a Midland hub and $11 million for the Murdoch hub.
The Midland hub will also see the closure of neighbourhood centres though CAHS said it was still assessing which locations to shut down.
Both centres are due to open next year with Aboriginal health, immunisation and mental health capabilities as well as traditional child health services. Some Midland
Health Consumers’ Council executive director Clare Mullen was unaware of the plan and raised concerns about the Murdoch location.
“While there can be benefits of co-locating services which may make it easier for families to access multiple services at the same location, for many families, locally accessible health services which are easier and quicker to access – particularly when attending with babies and young children – are more important,” she said.
“The other question we’d be interested in understanding is how CAHS are planning to ensure the ease of access – and importantly, affordability of parking – at a centralised location.”
The Murdoch health precinct, which includes Murdoch and Fiona Stanley Hospitals, is plagued with parking issues.
An Infrastructure WA review of the decision to build the Women’s and Babies Hospital in Murdoch tabled in parliament last week said Murdoch was “subject to transport constraints such as parking capacity and increasing congestion on surrounding arterial roads.”
Mullen also questioned how much community input had been sought for the decision to shutter the 13 centres.
“We’d be really keen to ensure that consumers and community members have a chance to provide input on these plans before they’re finalised,” she said.
The Child and Adolescent Health Service would not reveal how many centres it currently planned to shut, only that the project had evolved since the briefing note was prepared last year.
Chief executive Valerie Jovanovic said the service was still assessing which clinics to relocate but only ageing and those no longer fit-for-purpose were being considered.
“This means that families will be able to visit a purpose-built facility that will act as a one-stop-shop by
bringing together child health services and mental health services rather than having to visit several
different facilities,” she said.
“As has been previously announced, we are introducing a hub and spoke model at Murdoch to
give families access to more appropriate, co-located services.
“The new Murdoch Community Hub will provide a contemporary and collaborative model of care delivered within a purpose-built modern facility.
“There will be no reduction in available services or staffing [full-time equivalents] as a result of this change.”
Jovanovic said the service continued to consult families in the region who used the community health centres.
“CAHS will continue to measure and monitor the needs of families and will communicate with consumers when clear decisions have been made about the future,” she said.
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