6,000 children missed key development health checks in Cork 

Almost 6,000 children in Cork and Kerry did not receive a key developmental check before their first birthday in the years 2020 to 2024, new HSE data has shown. Only 12% of children received the check one month.

Under the Public Health Nursing (PHN) service, there are four main checks: When the child is around three months; between nine and 11 months; between 18 and 24 months; and at three to three-and-a-half years.

A HSE spokesperson said child-development checks are free health assessments for children from birth to five years of age, usually provided by PHNs (public health nurses).

“These checks help to ensure that each child is healthy and developing as expected,” they said.

While 36,742 PHN health and development assessments before the child’s first birthday were due between January 2020 and November 2024, just 30,948 were carried out.

The completion rate fluctuated by the month, with only 11.8% of checks completed on time in May 2020, at the height of covid, compared to a high of 97.8% in February 2022.

Late Checks

Nationally, 69,286 checks were late. In CHO4, which covers Cork and Kerry, 5,794 of these checks did not occur in time, or 15.8% of the total.

The majority missed were in 2020, where 7,899 checks were due and just 63% or 4,979 were carried out.

In 2021, 86% of 7,971 checks were carried out, with 1,083 missed, and in both 2022 and 2023, 91% of checks were carried out, with 761 of 8,123 missed in 2022 and 595 of 6,587 in 2023.

Last year saw the best performance in Cork and Kerry over the five-year period, with 5,727 checks completed from the start of January to the end of November, out of 6,162 due, a 93% completion rate.

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo that recruitment and retention of PHNs “remains a challenge”, but that several short-term measures have been introduced, such as service integration, reorganisation of workloads, participation in the Graduate Nurse Scheme to fill vacant posts, and staff redeployment.

This year the Department of Health has also funded an additional 26.7 PHN posts through the sponsorship scheme, which commenced in September.

“Where staff shortages occur, the HSE prioritises and supports children and families with the greatest need in the community.”

Nationally, as of August 2025, 85.4% of child-development assessments are completed on time or before the child reaches 12 months of age.