53,000 support Plunket helpline

National Party leader Don Brash with the petition. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Opposition parties say the Government should listen to a petition presented to Parliament yesterday asking it to save Plunketline.

About 100 protesters presented the 53,000-name petition to a group of MPs at lunchtime.

Plunket lost the contract to run the 24-hour helpline for parents and caregivers in April. The Health Ministry dumped Plunket in favour of Healthline operator McKesson New Zealand and said it would take over Well Child's free phone service that Plunket had run for 12 years.

National Party health spokesman Tony Ryall said it was not too late to save Plunketline and party leader Don Brash said Prime Minister Helen Clark needed to keep an earlier promise to preserve the service.

Green MP Sue Kedgley said the Government should support a homegrown local service rather than give the contract to a subsidiary of a multinational company.

She was also concerned that unlike Plunketline, staff at McKesson would not have to have a postgraduate Well Child health certificate.

The Government earlier said the service was put out to tender and McKesson, which already runs the 24-hour Healthline service, had a proven record of answering 90 per cent of calls, while Plunket's call response rate was poor with more than 87 per cent of calls being abandoned.

* Government funding of $30 million to boost numbers of qualified early childhood teachers kicks in next month.

On a visit to the Childspace early childhood centre in Karori, Wellington, yesterday Helen Clark and Education Minister Steve Maharey said the funding over the next four years was aimed at raising quality in early childhood teaching.

The increase would allow early childhood centres to employ more qualified teachers.

Funding rates for all-day services would increase by up to 13 per cent, while rates for session-based services would increase by up to 11 per cent.

Playcentres would also get a 9 per cent boost to their funding. Mr Maharey said this would help to reduce the time volunteers needed to spend on administration.

- NZPA