The three members of the clinical nurse specialist team, Dunedin-based Sally Fleming and Jo Mitchell, and Central Otago-based Louisa Ingham, aim to work with rest-homes providing hospital-level care for elderly patients throughout the region.
There are 18 such facilities in Dunedin, five in Central Otago, two in Oamaru and two in Balclutha.
The clinical nurse specialists will offer their guidance and support for staff in these facilities, who are increasingly giving end-of-life care.
"Residents receiving hospital-level care are increasingly likely to be in their last year of life, and needing palliative care,'' Mrs Fleming said.
People were living longer and longer, with higher needs, and one-third of New Zealanders who died each year were now dying in residential care facilities, she said.
"We will aim to work alongside staff to help them deal with any issues they are facing [in providing palliative care], and in looking after the wellbeing of families.''
Through the programme, to be phased in over the next year, the clinical nurse specialists will aim to help staff increase their capabilities and confidence to care for the wellbeing of their elderly patients and staff.
Otago Community Hospice chief executive Ginny Green said the nurse specialist programme was funded through a $7 million national innovation fund established by the Government last year. Developed in conjunction with Southland Hospice, after intensive consultation with the aged care sector, the programme received initial funding of $300,000.
"Through our consultation, the message was very clear that facilities felt they could use some support in end-of-life care for the very elderly,'' Mrs Green said.
The potential benefits of the programme were huge, in terms of the wellbeing of the patients and their families, as well as taking pressure off hospitals.
BRENDA.HARWOOD @thestar.co.nz
