Filling the gaps at Thames Hospital
Empty floors at Thames Hospital could be filled by a local health provider.
Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki’s current site is bursting at the seams and the iwi-based not-for-profit is eyeing free hospital space.
Waikato District Health Board is working on a plan to bring them under the same roof, creating a collaborative service for Hauraki people.
‘‘It seems really wasteful not to utilise those [hospital] buildings to their fullest capacity,’’ Te Korowai chief executive Riana Manuel told health board members this month.
‘‘So there are a couple of things driving it. Obviously, facility opportunities, to enliven our hospital once again to its maximum capacity and to share a workforce that we know, in a rural area, is struggling.’’
Te Korowai and the health board already work together – they share equipment and doctors and Te Korowai rings patients to get them to hospital outpatient appointments.
‘‘There’s a definite synergy that happens, whether we’re together in one building or not,’’ Manuel said.
If they join forces, health board documents say the vision is for people to get better access to health care and be directed to the most appropriate service.
The Emergency Department can call on Te Korowai’s GPs, nurses and other healthcare staff when needed, Manuel said.
Wha¯ nau Ora navigators for vulnerable families are another key part of the plan.
‘‘The same family that’s sitting there [in ED] because they don’t have the money for a GP consultation won’t pick up the prescription, even the one that ED writes,’’ Manuel said.
‘‘We can join up with the pharmacy to make sure they do. The navigator’s going to make sure that if they have got a housing crisis – in other words, if they’re not living somewhere, they’re living in the van tonight – that they can get alongside them. And not tomorrow, or next week, or when the referral gets received. At the minute they’re in there.’’
Te Korowai is a low cost access service which uses a combination of walk-in clinics and appointments. It has five GPs, four nurse practitioners, 12 registered nurses in clinics, and community-based contract nurses.
The group has set a target of July, 2019, for the Thames Hospital project.