Up to 7,000 children may have missed 9-12 month check-up

Updated / Tuesday, 3 Nov 2026 13:57

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The Ombudsman for Children has said up to 7,000 children may have missed their nine-to-12 month check up with a public health nurse in 2025.

A new investigation from the Ombudsman for Children's Office has found changes made to the HSE system back in 2022, during the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to some children up to the age of six missing out on checks.

Dr Niall Muldoon said his office had concerns about these changes from the start because it involved a move from a universal provision of services to a prioritisation one.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Muldoon said his office were not exactly sure how many children are missing out, because the HSE cannot give us data.

However, he said estimates could be made based on their own data and Central Stastisics Office figures.

He said: "What we have in our report is a guesstimate, which we got from a parliamentary question that was answered in January of this year, which said that 85.8% of the children in 2025 got their nine-to-12 month checkups on time.

"That that suggests then the 14.2% did not get it, and our best guesstimate from there, based on CSO figures, is that could be over 7000 children."

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Dr Muldoon said difficulties in recruitment plays part of the problem in delivering these checks to every child.

"There's shortages there, but at the same time, we have a commitment, and it's been one of our cornerstones for decades to have a public health nurse attending your child up till they reach school age, so that you can be guided, given advice on feeding, on support, on sleep, on nutrition, and it's a real early intervention mechanism too that we're missing out on," he said.

In addition there is also a huge aspect of safeguarding, Dr Muldoon said, because 10% of all child protection referrals are made by public health nurses.

"So there's a lot of impact that could come down the line, where children can lose out on early opportunities to to get support, but also safeguarding issues," he said.

Dr Muldoon added that the HSE supports his office's recommendations and have established a national oversight group to bring the system back to a universal one.