PART 4: FORMAL AND INFORMAL SUPPORTS

Public Expenditure on Education for Children and Young People :: Economic security :: Availability of housing for families with children :: Community characteristics :: Environment and places :: Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme referrals :: Antenatal care :: Childhood immunisation :: Accessibility of basic health services for children :: Children and young people in care :: Mental health referrals :: Screening for growth and development

Screening for Growth and Development

Home visiting by nurses has been shown to have short- and long-term benefits for families with infants. Benefits include reassurance for mother; increased parental knowledge; improved parental problem-solving strategies; and higher levels of reported positive infant mood. Follow-up using longitudinal-type study design has identified lower levels of juvenile delinquency at aged 21 years. ⁷³

Public Health Nurse visit

Measure

The percentage of mothers of newborn children visited by a Public Health Nurse within 48 hours of discharge from hospital.

Key findings

In 2007, 72.1% of infants were visited by a Public Health Nurse (PHN) within 48 hours of discharge from hospital (see Table 115).
The percentage of newborn babies visited by a PHN within 48 hours of discharge from hospital varied across HSE Regions, ranging from 57.5% in HSE Dublin North-East to 85% in HSE West.

Table 115: Number and percentage of newborn infants visited by a Public Health Nurse (PHN)
within 48 hours of discharge from hospital, by HSE Region (2007)

HSE Region	No. of newborn babies visited by a PHN within 48 hours of discharge from hospital	No. of newborn babies discharged from any hospital to the reporting area	% of newborn babies visited by a PHN within 48 hours of discharge from hospital
Dublin Mid-Leinster	9,939	14,653	67.8
Dublin North-East*	7,529	13,104	57.5
West	11,818	13,906	85.0
South*	8,190	10,279	79.7
State	37,476	51,942	72.1

Source: National Health Services Performance Indicators, HSE

Download Table 115 Microsoft Excel file

Technical notes
The data presented in this indicator are not based on complete data for each HSE Region for each Quarter in 2007: Q1 data is based on information from 13 Local Health Offices (LHOs) only; Q2 on 26 LHOs; Q3 on 28 LHOs; and Q4 on 31 LHOs.

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⁷³OMCYA (2006) State of the Nation's Children: Ireland 2006, Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Dublin: The Stationery Office. Available at: www.childrensdatabase.ie OR www.omc.gov.ie