Page 90 - Regional Services Plan 2016/19

3.5 Rehabilitation and elder care services
Current service availability
All Midland DHBs provide specialist assessment treatment and rehabilitation services, including both community ATR and specialist inpatient units.
DHBs also provide access to aged residential care services and home based support including household management, personal care, and restorative care.
Future trends
Status quo forecasts based solely on demographic change indicate a major investment in ATR and aged residential care services will be needed to maintain current serve access levels.
Based on current service models, a more than 60 percent increase in geriatricians, allied health, and rest home nursing staff will be needed to meet future demands. Alternatively, significant investments in restorative and home-based care will be necessary to divert clients who will otherwise move into residential care.
Opportunities for changes to models of care include:
 Use of interRAI as a needs assessment and care planning tool to identify risks and monitor KPIs;
 Prevention programmes including fall prevention and CVD risk management;
 Greater use of restorative home based care involving registered staff directing the work
of home care workers;
 Investing in a more highly skilled home care workforce; and
 Better coordination between community health services and primary care.
Clinical support services – now and future
Clinical support services include anaesthesia, radiology, pharmacy, pathology and critical care/intensive care and clinical genetics.
Current services
The core clinical support services are available at each DHB’s major hospital, and to a lesser extent in the smaller rural health centres. Of interest, Taranaki DHB contracts with private entities for anaesthesia services. Clinical genetics is available on a visiting basis from Auckland to Waikato and to Taranaki and Tairāwhiti from Wellington.
Diagnostic services have clearly evolved as a response to a commitment to the practice of modern medicine and the use of up to date technology across the region. Access to diagnostic Imaging particularly is indicative of this.
Future trends
Future advances in technology are likely to result in increased use of tele-health services – particularly in radiology, where the advent of PACs means that one radiologist might be able to report the entire region with sub-specialty skills such as Cardiac CT and MRI, or cover overnight reporting for scans not requiring attendance by a local Radiologist. Pathology is also greatly impacted by technology, with much biochemistry now automated, and advances in near patient
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APPENDIX 3: HEALTH SERVICES – NOW AND IN THE FUTURE