Health services for children in New Zealand include:
If your child has a serious condition or any special needs, you may also be entitled to support from your local Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC) service. This may include help from child development services - they help children with disabilities and children who are not growing or developing as expected.
Find out what you can do if you're concerned about your child's development [7]
Find out more about the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC) service [8]
These health services are free for most children in New Zealand.
It is important to enrol your child as early as possible so that they can use these health services when they need to. Your midwife will be able to tell you how to enrol your child with a general practice, your local Well Child Tamariki Ora service and your Community Oral Health Service.
Your midwife will also talk to you about having your child immunised.
Watch a series of 10 short videos answering your questions about immunisation [9]
Watch some short videos about protecting your child from serious diseases [10]
Different health workers will see your child at different times.
Your midwife (or specialist doctor) provides care for you during your pregnancy. Your midwife (or a midwife working on behalf of your specialist doctor) is there to support you during the first 6 weeks of your child's life.
From 4 to 6 weeks after the birth your care moves from your midwife to a Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse. Your midwife will tell you about the Well Child Tamariki Ora services in your area and help you to enrol with the one that is right for you. It's your choice which one you enrol with.
It’s important to enrol your child at a general practice as soon as possible so that your doctor and nurse can get to know you and give you the help that you need - including the first immunisations when your child is 6 weeks old. Most practices provide free health care until your child turns 14 years of age. If you don't have a general practice, your midwife or Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse will be able to talk to you about choosing one.
A Well Child Tamariki Ora nurse has special training in supporting parents and caregivers to look after babies and small children. The nurse will check your child’s health and development and ask you questions about home and whānau life. The nurse may refer you to other services if your child needs them.
This page last reviewed 30 June 2022.
Email us [13] your feedback
Links
[1] https://kidshealth.org.nz/pregnancy-childbirth-first-weeks
[2] https://kidshealth.org.nz/general-practice-team
[3] https://kidshealth.org.nz/well-child-tamariki-ora-programme
[4] https://kidshealth.org.nz/dental-care-your-child
[5] https://kidshealth.org.nz/healthline
[6] https://kidshealth.org.nz/plunketline-0800-933-922-0
[7] https://kidshealth.org.nz/concerned-about-your-childs-development
[8] https://kidshealth.org.nz/needs-assessment-service-coordination-nasc
[9] https://kidshealth.org.nz/immunisation-videos-why-immunise
[10] https://kidshealth.org.nz/immunisation-videos-protecting-your-child-serious-diseases
[11] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/2076?language=en
[12] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/2782?language=en
[13] https://kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F234%3Flanguage%3Den