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Counties Manukau Health Services for Older People
Public Service, Older People's Health, Cancer Network Group
Description
Services for Older People
Care of the elderly is provided by a team of professionals including Doctors, Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, Dietitians, Rehabilitation Assistants, Social Workers, Needs Assessors and Psychologists who specialise in conditions that affect older people. As people age they are more likely to have one or more medical illnesses and to have other difficulties as a result of these illnesses.
Counties Manukau DHB Services for Older People are located at Middlemore Hospital, Manukau SuperClinic™, Botany SuperClinic™ Pukekohe Hospital, Franklin Memorial Hospital
The Team
Rehabilitation Assistants work alongside therapy staff to carry out therapeutic interventions.
Nurses in this team are specially trained in conditions affecting older people and may be involved in your follow up to provide practical advice at home and provide feedback to your specialist or GP.
Clinical Psychologists in Health of Older People are trained to understand the emotions, thoughts, and behaviours of people at all life stages and utilise this to help older patients and their family/whaanau or caregivers adjust optimally following illness or injury. The most likely issues that you would work on are cognitive deficits and emotional/coping difficulties due to dementia, memory problems, strokes, injuries, and illnesses that limit your adjustment, independence, or general welfare.
Psychologists include your opinions, culture, and lifestyle and try to work with your strengths towards your goals and values. They can provide you with information to educate you and your family/whaanau about what is happening psychologically, draw up a treatment plan with you, and start therapeutic interventions likely to help you cope better during hospitalisation and afterwards.
Consultants
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Dr Heather Astell
Geriatrician
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Dr Melisa Birdling
Geriatrician
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Dr Yoomi Clarkson
Geriatrician
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Dr Tanya Crompton
MOSS
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Dr Bob Eason
Physician
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Dr Geoff Green
Geriatrician
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Dr Huai Kee
Geriatrician
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Dr Helen Kenealy
Geriatrician
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Dr Ajay Kumar
Geriatrician
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Dr Yu-Min Lin
Geriatrician
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Dr Stephanie Lowe
Geriatrician
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Dr Jeff Okpala
Geriatrician
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Dr So-Jung Park
Geriatrician
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Dr Sunita Paul
Orthogeriatrician - Clinical Head
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Dr Aritra Ray
Physician
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Dr Shankar Sankaran
Geriatrician
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Dr Hla Tha
Orthogeriatrician
Referral Expectations
Services for Older People include Inpatient, Long Stay Residential and Outpatient services. Different services are available at hospitals throughout the Counties Manukau region.
Inpatient Services
Inpatient services are available at:
You will be referred to hospital if your doctor thinks you would benefit from time in hospital to undergo assessment or treatment of your condition or for rehabilitation. You may be referred from home by your GP or from another ward in the hospital if you need more time and therapy to regain the ability to go home.
Before going home you may have a home visit where the occupational therapist takes you home for about an hour to see how you manage with day to day things in your own home to assess what help or equipment might be needed. Before discharge you and your family may wish to have a meeting with staff if you want to discuss what has happened to you and what help you might need at home.
Long Stay Residential Services
Long Stay Residential Care is only available at:
You will be referred to this service following an assessment by a Geriatrician and NASC (Needs Assessment Service Coordinator) if it is felt that you or a relative requires long term hospital level care. In the future, long stay residential care will be phase out at these hospitals and moved into community residential care.
What to Expect
You will need to visit the Unit first to make sure that there is a bed available or place your or your relative's name on the waiting list. You will be given a Welcome Pack which contains the information that you need to know prior to admission and an Admission Agreement which details the Ministry of Health contract which covers the services offered. It also details the cost or subsidies that are available for this service.
You will be cared for by a General Practitioner, Registered Nurses, Health Care Assistants and Allied Health Staff. You will be encouraged to remain as independent as possible but assisted with tasks that are difficult.
There is a mix of shared rooms and a few single rooms.
Palliative Care Services
Palliative care services are only available at:
- Pukekohe Rehabilitation & Care Unit - Pukekohe Hospital
- Franklin Memorial Hospital
You will be referred to this service by Middlemore Hospital, Franklin Hospice or your General Practitioner. This support is also available for symptom control and management.
What to Expect
You will be cared for by a General Practitioner and Registered Nurses. There are single room facilities for these services.
Outpatient Services
Outpatient Clinics are held at the following locations:
- Middlemore Hospital - general outpatients, osteoporosis
- Manukau SuperClinic™
- Pukekohe Hospital - a wide range of consultants and specialists utilise the clinic suite to enable patients to be seen closer to their homes.
- Franklin Memorial (Waiuku) Hospital - District Nurse Clinic
- Botany SuperClinic™.
Your GP will refer you to this service if they think you would benefit from seeing a team of people to assist with any difficulties related to illnesses affecting you in old age or if they feel you would benefit from a specialist doctor’s advice regarding your medical condition.
Clinics
You will see a Geriatrician, a Registrar (a doctor training to become a specialist) with supervision, Specialist Nurse or Allied Health Professional (Physiotherapist, Dietitian, or Psychologist).
Before seeing the doctor, you may be seen by a nurse who will ask you some questions and take some recordings such as blood pressure and weight. The average length of a clinic appointment is 1 hour with tests following afterwards often taking another 30 mins. During the clinic appointment you will be asked about any symptoms you have as well as your past medical history. Please bring all your medications with you. It is very common in this clinic to be asked a series of questions to test your memory. You will have a physical examination and are likely to have blood tests, an ECG (tracing of your heart) and a Chest X-Ray, depending on what problems you have.
Home Visits
Your GP may request a home (or rest home or private hospital) visit by one of our doctors or nurses. This occurs if you are unable to come into hospital or would be best assessed in your own home. You will be phoned the day before and asked if it is OK for us to visit. The waiting times for home visits are usually 1-2 weeks.
Assessment For Going Into A Rest Home or Long Stay Hospital
Charges
There are no charges for services to public patients if you are lawfully in New Zealand and meet one of the eligibility specified criteria set by the Ministry of Health. If you do not meet the criteria, you will be required to pay for the full costs of any medical treatment you receive during your stay.
To check whether you meet the specified eligibility criteria, visit the Ministry of Health website.
For any applicable charges, please phone the Accounts Receivable Office on (09) 276 0060.
Common Conditions
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Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens your bones. Osteoporosis is not painful but it makes your bones more prone to breaking (fracture).… More
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Memory Problems
There are several types of memory problems people can have. If you are referred because of memory concerns it is very helpful to bring along a family member. It is also very important to bring all of your medications with you as these can often affect memory. A full medical… More
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Dementia
This is a condition of gradual loss of memory and other functions of awareness or thinking such as concentration over time. There are several types of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, which is due to the same sort of illnesses that cause stroke. More
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Falls
These are not a natural part of aging. There are many reasons why people fall over and a review of your medical problems and medications may well reveal some reasons for falling that can be fixed. If you have lots of falls, seeing a specialist as well as the physiotherapist… More
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Strokes
A stroke is where the blood supply to an area of the brain is interrupted causing damage to brain cells. This happens either with a clot in the blood vessel or the blood vessel bursting. The effects of a stroke depend on where in the brain, and how big, the… More
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Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence or a loss of bladder control is the involuntary passage of urine.… More
Services Provided
Hospitals and cancer treatment centres
- Public hospitals
- Social work
Nursing support services
- Continence
- District nursing
Supportive health
- Nutrition and dietetics
- Occupational therapy
- Physiotherapy
- Psychology
- Social work
- Speech therapy
Cancer Types
Brain and Spinal, Head and Neck / Thyroid, Lung, Breast, Upper Gastrointestinal (Oesophagus / Stomach / Liver), Lower Gastrointestinal (Bowel / Rectum / Anus), Kidney, Bladder, Testicular, Prostate, Gynaecological, Leukaemia and Blood, Skin Cancer / Melanoma, Sarcoma, Others
Visiting Hours
Middlemore Hospital
Visiting hours are between 2pm and 8pm. Visitors are restricted to two at a time. Children are welcome, but must be supervised by an adult
Pukekohe Hospital and Franklin Memorial Hospital
Usual visiting hours daily between 10am and 8pm. Outside of these hours in consultation with the Charge Nurse.
Website
Contact Details
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This page was last updated at 3:56PM on February 28, 2022. This information is reviewed and edited by Counties Manukau Health Services for Older People.