"Repeatedly cancelled appointments"

I was originally scheduled for my child’s 12-month check-up a few weeks ago. On the day of the appointment, I received a call to inform me that the appointment was cancelled. I rang the central line and rebooked the first appointment that lined up with our schedule on the day I wrote this story.

However, a couple of hours before my child’s appointment, I received a call to cancel the appointment again because the nurse had to go home. When I expressed my dissatisfaction that this was the second time the 12 month appointment was cancelled, and questioned the utility of even having the appointment at this point, the nurse told me as I recalled, “that was my decision”. Unfortunately, as I stated to them directly, it is a decision one only comes to because of how they’ve been positioned by the Heath Service Provider.

The nurse also informed me that unfortunately, people get sick, their children get sick and that the service is under-resourced (in my opinion, shocker!). While I can appreciate that all these factors have an impact on their ability to provide a consistent service, it remains deeply concerning that my child’s 12-month appointment has now been deferred until next month when they’ll be 17 months. As unfortunate as it is that the nurse or their children are unwell, by repeatedly cancelling these appointments you are not just letting people slip through the cracks, I feel you are now creating the cracks for people to slip through. I’m a first-time mother with a 16-month-old. I’ve returned to study and have limited availability during the week. I was told that if I wanted to go to another Child Health Nurse Service that I could ring the central line.

I’ve previously given feedback (directly to your consumer engagement representative) that the fact you cannot rebook directly with another service and are asked to call a central line to rebook when your appointments are cancelled, I believe is also likely to result in missed opportunities to engage with members of the community (especially those who do not have the time or feel uncomfortable calling a central line to rebook). It’s unfortunate that I believe no actions have been taken to remedy this since that feedback was originally provided.