Discharged after day, thanks to initiative

Bev Collis receives a check-up from Home Team registered nurse Michelle Fleury in her Brockville...
Bev Collis receives a check-up from Home Team registered nurse Michelle Fleury in her Brockville home following hospitalisation for a dislocated shoulder. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON
Until recently, Brockville woman Bev Collis would have been in hospital for a week or more following a fall which dislocated her shoulder.

However, a new Southern District Health Board initiative meant she was discharged after just a day in Dunedin Hospital - and she could not be happier about being back home again.

"I far prefer to be here ... and I wouldn't be here without the Home Team," Mrs Collis said.

"They were here the day I got home - it was instant help."

Mrs Collis was able to go home thanks to "Home Team" - a group of clinicians employed to help suitable patients either not be admitted to hospital at all, or spend the least time there possible.

Created as part of the SDHB and WellSouth's Primary and Community Care Strategy, Home Team was instituted for economic, logistical and health outcomes. As well as freeing up more hospital resources and beds, numerous studies suggest patients recover better and more quickly at home than in hospital.

"At home, patients are likely to get up and be more active than in hospital, meaning less loss of mobility, fitness and muscle strength," SDHB strategy, primary and community executive director Lisa Gestro said.

"The calmer environment of home also helps recovery ... The initiative is an excellent example of the Primary and Community Care Strategy in action."

Home Team staff include nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation assistants and social workers, and it works with other hospital and community-based healthcare services.

The service is available in Dunedin, seven days a week from 8am-8pm, and will start in Invercargill next year.

Patients receive all the care and support they need from Home Team for up to two weeks, and those needing further help are referred to other service providers.

"They have been in every day and sometimes they have come back again if things weren't right," Mrs Collis said.

"They came in just like friends walking through the door. I've never had to have care before, and they made it so easy for me to go from being totally independent to having to rely on someone else - it's been amazing."

 

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