PlunketLine running hot once more

PlunketLine, restructured in July after Government funding was cut, is providing an improved and invaluable service, writes Kirsten Grant
Christina Crowe panicked when her 3-week-old baby, Lincoln, reacted badly to his immunisations. ``He'd just had his meningococcal jabs and was really hot,'' the 25-year-old mum recalls. Christina remembered PlunketLine, the national child healthline, dived for the phone and dialled. Help was quick. ``I only had to wait about four minutes,'' she says. ``The nurse was very helpful.'' Christina's is one of many success stories that seem to have proved the doomsayers wrong. Despite being cut off from Government funding five months ago, PlunketLine is still in operation and doing better than ever. In June last year it was reported that 85 per cent of calls had gone unanswered that May. Call centre operations manager Pauline Marshall says that rate is now down to around 20 per cent. She says waiting times for calls are averaging two to three minutes. ``At peak times it can be longer, for example, at 10am on Monday morning and 5.30pm on Friday evening. If a caller calls during the day, they are much more likely to have a shorter wait.'' The new service, running since July, is funded through a combination of community, corporate and other donors. The only major change has been its 24-hour availability has been cut to 17 hours. Plunket's chief executive officer Paul Baigent says customer satisfaction levels for the last 12 months were 99.7 per cent. He admits, though, that PlunketLine hasn't the resources to meet all calls. ``Most get through fairly quickly,'' he says, ``and we have a call-back system which is starting to work quite well.'' One of the 30 Plunket nurses or another of the 13 staff will get back directly. Over the last year, PlunketLine answered more than 63,900 calls (on average 1200 calls a week), an increase from 61,400 the previous year. ``Our new service is up and running,'' Mr Baigent says. ``We are funding ourselves. We're looking at more improvements for next year. ``We'll also be strengthening our web-based service. We've revised our website in the last couple of months and that will be further developed as a major source of info for parents.''Parents and caregivers should continue to ring PlunketLine on 0800 933 922.