Childcare health standards concern

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 3

Childcare health standards concern

BY

DEBORAH McPHERSON

Poor nutrition and hygiene standards in some Christchurch childcare centres have caused Health Department officials concern.

A departmental health protection officer, Mr Malcom Walker, said routine inspections of Christchurch’s 61 childcare centres during the last 12 months had shown a number of issues of concern to the health of preschoolers. Inspectors had noticed some children being sent to all-day care with only a packet of biscuits for meal times. Some parents had also been using creches to mind sick primary schoolchildren, exposing other children to disease, said Mr Walker. Poor sanitation was not widespread, but in a few instances had lead to widespread infections of communicable diseases such as conjunctivitis among toddlers. Mr Walker emphasised that most childcare centres were well managed and of a high standard. He could not say how many centres gave cause

for concern, but they had been a mixture of private and community-based ones. Children in all-day centres that were not licensed to provide hot meals were “particularly vulnerable” to lack of nutrition, unless parents provided well balanced cut lunches. The Education Department, which licenses childcare centres, would like to see all centres provide a hot midday meal, but the Health Department’s own stringent food hygiene regulations discouraged many centres, said Mr Walker. Seven new centres had registered with the Education Department during the last 12 months and about six others were thought to be "in the pipeline.” Health Department inspectors faced the problem of how to continue monitoring standards annually at a time when Christchurch was experiencing a “mini boom” in childcare, and in the face of proposed departmental cuts, said Mr Walker. The chairwoman of the Licensed Childcare Centres’ Federation, Mrs Helen Andrews, defended the high standards of most centres. Of the 10 to 12 centres belonging to the federation, about five or six provided a full hot meal during the day. All had to comply with stringent health regulations. The Education Department’s district officer for early childhood education, Mrs Margaret Calder, agreed most centres were well managed. Children spending long hours at centres not licensed to provide hot meals might be vulnerable to missing essential nutrients at a key time in their development, but parents were also responsible for their children’s diet, she said.