B4 School Checks are a Ministry of Health funded check offered as part of the Well Child Tamariki Ora Schedule.

It is offered free of charge to all children aged 4 years and can be completed up until the child turns 5 years. The Public Health Nursing Service offers this check to children enrolled with nominated General practices who do not provide the check at their practice.

If you have not been contacted to have the check please contact your General Practice in the first instance and if you are informed that they have nominated our service to do the check please contact us on 027 458 0401

Alternatively you can contact the B4 School Check Coordination Centre on 0800 247 212

All pregnant women should be assessed by their lead maternity carer; including midwives, general practitioners, practice nurses and obstetricians, as to the risk of Tuberculosis (TB) for their baby.

Eligibility for BCG Vaccination

A child under the age of 5 years will be eligible for the BCG vaccine if he/she:

1. Will be living in a house of family/whanau with a person with current TB or a past history of TB
2. Had one or both parents or household members or carers who have within the last 5 years lived for a period of 6 months or longer in a country with a TB rate of > 40 per 100,000 (refer to table link below)
3. During their first 5 years will be living for 3 months or longer in a country with a TB rate of > 40 per 100,000 (refer to table link below)

If one or more of these questions is answered with YES, then this baby is at increased risk of being exposed to TB. This baby needs to be referred to the BCG Vaccination Clinic. Please see the links below for Referral Form and a list of countries with TB rates of > 40 per 100,000. The Ministry of Health have currently set the threshold for children 12 months and younger, with some exceptions for children who are travelling to countries with high incidence of Tuberculosis.

No Cost

BCG Vaccination is free to all eligible children.

When to Vaccinate

Vaccination before 6 months old is strongly recommended as after 6 months of age a Mantoux test is required prior to vaccination to eliminate any possible exposure to TB.

What countries have high TB incidence?

The list of countries which currently have a high incidence of TB ( > 40 per 100,000) is attached.
TB BCG List of Countries plus Information (PDF, 200KB) 

How do I make a referral?

Please print the Referral Form linked below and fax to the BCG Clinic 03 383 6878 (as given on form).
We aim to have an online form available on this website soon.

BCG Vaccination Referral (8567) (PDF, 200KB)

BCG Clinic enquiries

Phone: 03 383 6863
Fax: 03 383 6878

Useful information

HealthEd Website – Parent information on BCG vaccine
Ministry of Health – Tuberculosis Vaccine Information

School based Vaccination Programme

The Public Health Nursing Service (PHNS) provides a school based vaccination programme for Year 8 girls and boys who have not completed the vaccinations at a General Practice.

There are two vaccinations offered:

• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 
• Tetanus, Dipheria and Whooping Cough (tdap)

For further information go to www.health.govt.nz or www.immune.org.nz 

Each school has an allocated Public Health Nurse (PHN) who will make regular contact with the school offering support, referral management, and liaison with other providers along with providing student health clinics in nominated schools.

• You can view your schools public health nurse in the Public Health Nurse School Allocation List 2019 (PDF, 100KB) 
• To be advised of your schools public health nurse’s contact details, please phone 03 383 6877 ext 9477 

GPs are able to refer via ERMS.

Instructions for using writeable version referral form:

1. Click the file to open in Adobe Acrobat reader OR right-click > save target as > save the file to your computer
2. Complete all fields on the referral form Referral Form – Public Health Nursing Service (PDF, 200KB)
3. Note: when signing the form if you do not have a digital ID simply add your name in the signature field and leave the other digital ID field empty
4. On completing the information on the form, save the form – if possible, when doing this type the patients’ name in the filename so that it can easily be referenced
5. Email the PDF file as an attachment to phnburwood@cdhb.health.nz

The Vision Hearing Service sits alongside the Public Health Nursing Service. It is staffed by qualified Vision Hearing Technicians (VHTs) and administration.

This is a mobile vision and hearing screening service that is provided free to all children across the Canterbury DHB area and offered in Early Childhood Education Centres (ECEC) and schools.

The VHTs have a list of Early Childhood Education Centre and schools allocated to each person. They regularly visit these sites and undertake routine screening of children and follow up on referrals and requests from parents/caregivers/general practitioners.

The first routine screening occurs at 4 years as part of the B4 School check. This includes a vision screen and an audiometry/hearing test and generally takes place at the child’s Early Childhood Education Centre. If a child misses the screen at 4 years they are followed up at school entry.

The next routine screen occurs at Year 7 (around 11 years of age). This is a vision screen for boys and girls.

Vision Hearing Service contact details:

Phone (03) 383 9498
Fax (03) 383 9494

School concerns can also be discussed with the Public Health Nurse who visits the school.

The Public Health Nursing service supports the delivery of Well Child Service Tamariki Ora services in the Kaikoura and Banks Peninsula areas.

This service offers support for new families with core visits and additional services as identified. These visits may occur in the home or at clinics.

Well Child referrals can be faxed to the following offices:

• Kaikoura: for the area between Kekerangu and the Conway River
  Phone (03) 3195125
  Fax (03) 3197185
• Lincoln: for the Banks Peninsula area including Little River
  Phone (03) 3256218
  Fax (03) 3256231