Delays in introducing a national Before School Checks programme in Otago have prompted Ministry of Health officials to "eyeball" Otago health bosses and tell them to get on with it.
The Otago District Health Board was expected to introduce the free health and development checks for 4-year-olds on September 1, but had been holding back because of funding concerns.
"We have been eyeballed by the ministry and it has been made clear, in no uncertain terms, this is very important," regional planning and funding officer David Chrisp told an Otago and Southland community and public health advisory committee at a meeting in Invercargill this week.
Chief executive Brian Rousseau said the board did not believe funding was sufficient for it to do a proper job of delivering the checks.
Committee member Fiona McArthur said there was "a window of opportunity" to voice concerns about insufficient funding before the general election on November 8.
"If we don't communicate that we run the risk of running with a strategy to gain votes and we are left with the financial burden of that."
Mr Rousseau said the programme was not being introduced at the 11th hour and Otago was only behind because of its funding concerns.
Mr Chrisp said the programme should be up and running by the end of the month. The checks would be done at Dunedin Hospital initially because of "the immediacy of getting something going", but the board had met organisations which could potentially provide the service in the future.
"The real work is now focusing on how we are going to grow the service into more of a community led service, potentially through primary health organisations," he said.
Committee member Kaye Crowther said there were concerns that if the checks uncovered a health or development problem in a child, there would not be enough specialists to take referrals.
The checks are designed to identify health, behavioural, social and developmental issues which could affect a child's ability to learn.
They will include a general health questionnaire, hearing and vision tests, height and weight measurement and questionnaires for parents and early childhood teachers about children's development and behaviour.
