plunket again (rant!)

ARRRGGGHHHH at plunket east auckland...they are atrocious. At last check I asked to make our 12 month appt as we can only do sat appts...well we (mum was with me) plainly got told we didnt come again til 15 months. I asked if she was sure and she said no make an appt closer to time. Ok so left it at that..

got a message from plunket last week asking why we hadnt made an appt for ellas 12 month appt!!! OMFG i wonder why?

so i call up and try to get an appt....didnt tell her who i was - and she said you are meant to have 12 month if first time mum...ok so when can i now get a sat one...ummm in six weeks!!!! i have time on mon morn next week but nothing then either...so i complained BIG time...according to her this is most unusual as they do their best to see people for 12 month appts! yeah right! they have cancelled three times on my sat appts - well tried cause i demand to see someone and only one did i give up!

so then i asked her to talk to the lady who had told me there were no more checks til 15 months, and she said ok would you like a home visit...sure i said sat or after hours...oh NO they dont do those!!!

so shesaid look i will pass on your complaint...at this point i said really??? how will you do that when you dont know who the lady was, and have no idea who you are speaking to? so THEN she asked me my childs name - my response - forget it Im going to put a complaint in writing....we have had nothing but trouble with getting them to see us...even had to beg for my first ever home appt which should never have happened!

what a crock they are....and WHERE do they cater for working parents at all????

arrgggghhhhhh at my local Plunket!!!!

South Auckland Plunket are no better!

My nurse has now left, but up until now I had only been given a total of 3 appointments! She kept canceling on me (And Im a full time stay at home mum) week after week till it got to the point that we were missing his milestone checks. My first appointment was when he was 9weeks old ...and that was only when I rung and demanded a Plunket nurse come out and give me an appointment ....supposedly they never got my forms ???

I just feel that they aren't very efficient nor supportive, especially considering I'm a first time, YOUNG & Solo Mother (ok, not extremely young ...im 21 soon).

I would have appreciated more help as Lucas hasn't been the easiest of babies, never slept (still doesn't), cried non stop for those first three months ...didn't take his solids until 10 months properly. Everytime I rang my Nurse or Plunketline I got the same answer 'Controlled Crying'...never given an alternative, never shown any support.

And whats worse is they don't have any mothers/coffee groups or seminars here in South Auckland like they offer in other areas of NZ ...and i never got told about the solids talk (which incidentally I attended yesterday, a bit embarassing having the monster giant baby with all the tiny 4 month olds) LOL.

And regarding 12 month Check BS, our nurse left so my appointment is apparently out the window, yesterday they stuck the scales on the floor in the middle of the room (attended a 1 year mass weigh in for all my former nurses clients who were no longer getting their appointment). Lucas is 12.3kg now, all the other bubbas were 9-10kg max...hes really thickset compared to the other bubs (espesh his tummy)... hopefully he slims down a bit with walking stage.

But I think there is no check until 15months because someone said yesterday that there was no page for 12month check in our plunket book? (not sure myself, as haven't looked).

I think we're lucky in Wellington. Newlands, Jville and Tawa plunkets are fantastic (not trying to rub it in tho).

We had a 12 month check with a plunket volunteer who did they weighing and measuring and gave us appropriate brochures for her age and the had our 15 mo check with the actual nurse. There isn't a section in the book for 12mo but the volunteer wrote notes on one of the blue comments pages.

Mum2Lucas Michaela was a real little bhudda too but she lost it all when she started walking/running/dancing etc. and now around the waist she can fit pants she wore when she was a year old (they're halfway up her calves now though).

I have just been for 9 month check up and the nurse booked him in for his 15 month one, she even said it was a long time between them and reminded me of the open clinic, so I told her that I went there before and they were shut
There is definitely a lack of consistency, I have only had the standard milestone appointments, was not told about parenting courses, solids talks etc but then at the 5 month one was asked why I hadn't attended, my friend who lives in the city has had countless plunket visits from the nurse and the karitane nurse and most of them have been at her house, she also has a coffee group which mine doesn't bother to do.
I do wonder what the point of going to mine is when my gp does the same checks? perhaps my gp is more thorough than most?

BellaBabysMum wrote: I loved my plunket nurse in Newlands! She was fab! But since then its gone downhill so i dont bother anymore.

Did you have Jo Spittal too? She is wonderful!

I was really put off during my first plunket visit which was with a relieving nurse since Jo was on leave. When I mentioned that my DH was going to be a sahd once our baby reached 5 months she asked me whether he was qualified to do so (um excuse me but at 8wo we were as qualified and experienced as each other). Then I met Jo and all fears were allayed. DH loved her too.

Edited by The_Stuarts

I haven't even been contacted for our 15 month appointment!

Long gone now anyway...

Edited by Paws

Awww, that sucks that you're still getting the run around BS!

I heart my PLunket nurse, but then I do drive half way acrss Akl to see her, the local one did not impress me at all when she came to do home visits with the gremlins - I think she lost me about the poit where she told me Willie should get a vasectomy - when our twins were 3 weeks old! *rolls eyes*

There is a plunket at Sylvia Park -- I noticed the sign last time I was there, although I didn't manage to find out whether it's a clinic or a family room or what.

The Pakuranga Plunket (at the Westfield) is the one we go to, and we've had varying degrees of service. It's been a different nurse every time, which I don't really like. They've ranged from excellent and informative to rude and uninterested. At one visit, before Em had grommets, the nurse had a nursing student there to observe the appointment and when she started telling me how concerned she was about Em's hearing, she actually turned to the student and talked to him as though I wasn't there. I couldn't believe it. However, when we went for Em's two-year check, the nurse we had was lovely.

I've found that I have to call them to make appointments, and I have to be vigilant about it. Usually I ring and tell thenm when I can come, and what times are good, and then they ring back and confirm on the answerphone. It's always phone tag. I've never had them contact me to make an appointment -- I've always had to do it.

As a first-time mum you're also entitled to extra appointments above and beyond the "official" ones in the book -- I had to ask for those too but I did get them.

I got a 12month with Rhyley and a 14 month (home visit) and a 15th month - and I am not a first time mother. Isn't that funny, different plunkets do different things. I find it strange though I don't go there till 2 years old now

We also had our 12 month one with the karitane nurse (or someone who wasn't our plunket nurse) and then 15 month with the official nurse. My old plunket was a lot better tho the karitane nurse came round numerous times to help me out with breastfeeding when Jack was small. Its a shame some aren't so great because they give the great ones a bad name.