This service provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation services for older people (65+ and those close in age and characteristics), and intensive rehabilitation for people under 65 years of age.

Services are provided in hospital, outpatient clinics, and in the community, including in clients’ homes.

A new building was completed in June 2013 to provide three wards and a clinic area. The building is shared with the Mental Health of Older People service.

Description

Older Persons and Rehabilitation services include:

• Combined Stroke service
  Provides acute care for patients with stroke and those stroke patients requiring assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
• Orthopaedic rehabilitation
  Works in collaboration with acute orthopaedics to ensure a seamless approach between post-operative or acute care of older people with fractures and active and intensive rehabilitation.
• General assessment, treatment and rehabilitation
  For people 65 years + or those close in age, interests and characteristics.
• Intensive rehabilitation
  For people 16 years + who meet set criteria.
• Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics
  Specialist-led clinics that take a multidisciplinary approach and address a wide range of issues and conditions of older patients referred by GPs or hospital services.
• Disability Support Link (DSL)
  Promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence. It identifies and coordinates home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula (except those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months and people will ACC-related conditions).
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)
  Provides intensive in-home rehabilitation to those discharged from hospital, focusing on achieving personal, meaningful goals identified by the patient and their family.

Key personnel

Barbara Garbutt
Group manager
Older Persons and Rehabilitation

Locations

Hamilton

• Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, Gate 3 Pembroke Street (west side), Hamilton.
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation wards
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics

See here for more details on ward and clinics locations

• Disability Support Link (DSL) , Hugh Monckton Building, Rostrevor Street, Hamilton but coordinates home support services across the Waikato district.
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)– team base is in the Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, but services are provided in clients’ homes across the Waikato district.

Thames Hospital
610 Mackay Street
Thames

• Two general assessment, treatment and rehabilitation wards
• Specialist-led clinics

Rhoda Read continuing care facility
222 Studholme Street
Morrinsville

Matariki continuing care facility
389 Kihikihi Road
Te Awamutu

Contact information

For all hospital departments and services (07) 839 8899

Referral information

• Referrals to OPR are by GPs and other health professionals, using the OPR single point of entry referral form 
• Referrals to Disability Support Link - please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
• Applications for end-of-life support - use this form

Information for health professionals

• Celebrating success in Older Persons and Rehabilitation 
  
• Delirium booklet (see under Delirium in the For health professions>Primary care guidelines section of the website)
• Ageing and Dementia: A compendium of New Zealand Research Literature

Vacancies

• Bupa Research Fellow/Specialist Physician in Older Persons and Rehabilitation
• Specialist Geriatrician / General Physician

FAST stroke campaign

• FAST stroke background information
• See the signs of a stroke - Think FAST

Disability Support Link (DSL) is a community-based organisation that provides a needs assessment and service coordination service for people with disabilities. It does not provide support services itself - it carries out a comprehensive assessment to determine the person's support needs, and then identifies suitable support services, arranges them, and reviews if the arrangement is working for the client.

Disability Support Link aims to promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence.

Those requesting assessment must have a disability as defined by the Ministry of Health:

“... a person with a disability is a person who has been identified as having a physical, psychiatric, intellectual, sensory or age-related disability (or a combination of these), which is likely to continue for a minimum of six months and result in a reduction of independent function to the extent that ongoing support is required..."

Description

Disability Support Link assists in obtaining home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula, and may include:

• Household assistance
• Personal care
• Day programmes (non-therapeutic)
• Carer support
• Residential care and support
• Referrals to other support services.

Exclusions
Disability Support Link does not have the capacity to assist the following clients:

• those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months
• people will ACC-related conditions.

What is a needs assessment?
The purpose of a needs assessment is to gather relevant information about a client’s current abilities, resources, goals and needs, then determining which of these agreed needs is most important to the client.

• The assessment is client-centred and comprehensive.
• Needs assessors work in partnership with clients and where appropriate their partners/significant others.
• Disability Support Link welcomes the support of family/whanau for their client during the assessment.
• Clients are asked to sign the completed assessment and are given a copy. Corrections to information can be made by the client.
• An assessor will visit you to gather information about your needs, and after the assessment, a service coordinator will contact you to discuss a package of care related to your identified support needs.

What is service coordination?
Service coordinators have extensive knowledge of all options including public, private, voluntary and community services.

• Your service coordinator will advise which of your needs can be met by publicly funded services and will also consider ways of meeting needs which cannot be covered by these services.
• Privacy and confidentiality will be safeguarded. You have the right to access all information arising from your assessment and service plan.

Review
Your services will be reviewed at least annually to ensure your needs are still being met.

• If your needs are not being met, the service coordinator will recommend an adjustment or arrange a reassessment. 
• If your needs or circumstances change, you may contact the service and ask for a review if you feel the services are not fully meeting your needs.

Policies

• Paid Family Care and Waikato DHB policy
  
  

InterRAI assessment tool

This is an electronic assessment tool that is used by appropriately trained health professionals in the management of older clients and those deemed as being of like in age and interest. It started as a Rest Home Assessment Instrument used in Canada and the US, but has now evolved into a suite of assessment tools that can be used on any older client in any environment.

Its development has involved a network of researchers in more than 30 countries and the assessment tools are used throughout the world, including district health boards throughout New Zealand.

• Why - to promote evidence-based clinical practice and policy decisions.
• How - through the collection and interpretation of high quality data about the characteristics and outcomes of persons across a variety of health and social services settings.

More information

• Read Only and Continuation Notes - User Guide
• Implementation of interRAI brochure

Key personnel

Graham Guy
Manager

Location

Hugh Monckton Building, cnr Rostrevor and Harwood Streets, Hamilton

Contact information

DSL Reception: (07) 839 1441
Freephone:   0800 55 33 99
Email: dsloffice@waikatodhb.health.nz 

Referral information

The client or caregiver’s consent must be obtained prior to making a referral. This is essential.
Referrals can be made by clients, by their family/whanau members, GPs, a health professional, disability support groups and organisations or a friend.  Please see contact details below.

• All referrals for clients aged over 65 years should go through the Referral Coordination Centre using the single point of entry referral form .Centre.
• All other referrals can be sent directly to Disability Support Link.
• Please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
•  DSL end-of-life care/carer support - application form

Appropriate advice and care

Disability Support Link has a commitment to providing competent and culturally appropriate assessors and service coordinators.
Please tell us if you have a particular cultural requirement, e.g. te reo Maori, interpreter, translator etc.

There are many health services that operate in the community and sometimes in people’s homes.

Waikato DHB funds or directly provides many of these community based health services. Rural and Community services are based at our rural hospitals and in 17 community bases for Family Health Teams across the DHB district.

Description

To learn about the services provided by Waikato DHB Rural and Community teams, watch this 6 minute video.

• Te Reo version of the Rural and Community teams video

Family Health Teams include the following health professionals

• Dietitians
• District nurses
• Occupational therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Public health nurses
• Social workers

The service also operates three rural hospitals which are located in communities other than Hamilton, and serve the towns and rural areas in their vicinity:

• Tokoroa Hospital
• Te Kuiti Hospital
• Taumarunui Hospital

Thames Hospital is a secondary hospital that is managed as part of a Waikato Hospital/Thames Hospital arrangement.

Other Rural and Community services include

• Acute Home Support 
• Clinical nurse specialists (continence, gerontology, Waikids, wound care)
• Community Equipment and Supply
• Community Oral Health (dental)
• Ear nurses
• Sexual Health
• Vision and hearing technicians

More information about what happens when we visit you .

Key personnel

Jill Dibble
Group Manager
Rural and Community

Location

List, locations and contact numbers of Waikato DHB Rural and Community Family Health Teams

Referral information

Referrals to community services are usually by a GP or other health professional. All referrals to the service are received and processed at the Community Regional Referral Centre fax: 07 858 1071. Referrals cannot be sent directly to the professional group or base.

Other health and disability support services and community-based programmes are provided by Waikato DHB's Mental Health and Addiction, Women’s Health, Waikids, and Older Persons and Rehabilitation, and Waikato Hospital outreach services including:

• Mental Health and Addictions community services
• Disability Support Link
• START (home-based rehabilitation for people who have had a hospital stay)
• Palliative Care (Regional Service with Hospice Waikato and community based nurses)
• Home-based dialysis
• Heart failure management service

Please click on the date below to view the agenda.

2016 Agendas

Historical agendas

If you require a historical agenda that's not yet been listed on the website, please email the request to  webmaster@waikatodhb.health.nz

Support for patients of The Virtual District Health Board - HealthTap

Can I use The Virtual DHB if I don't have the internet?

The Virtual DHB is a virtual (cloud based) service that requires internet access to use all functionality.

How do I sign up to The Virtual DHB (HealthTap)?

New Zealand residents can sign up to the service by taking photo ID along to the enquiries desks at the following hospitals: Waikato, Thames, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui or Tokoroa.

Once you have been verified you will be provided with details of your NHI (National Health Index) and a HealthTap access code.

To complete the sign up process, from a web browser visit https://virtualdhb.healthtap.co.nz/get_started. Please click on Sign up and follow the instructions. Enter your NHI and Access code when prompted. You will also need to have a private and personal email address (i.e. not a shared or work email address).

(see getting started for detailed instructions)

How do I access The Virtual District Health Board (HealthTap)

Once you are registered you can log in to your account from a browser by going to http://virtualdhb.healthtap.co.nz or by logging in to the free HealthTap mobile application available from the apple or android app stores.  PLease note: There is no app in windows store  currently.

I don't have a private or personal email address

Try creating an email address from

• Google - https://accounts.google.com/SignUp
• Yahoo - https://login.yahoo.com
• Microsoft - https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/outlook-com/

How do I install the plugin needed for virtual consultations on some browsers?

You will be prompted within the browser if you need to install the plug in. The following instructions can be also used to install the plugin.

Please note: The chrome browser does not need the plug in installed.

Windows:

Installation of the HealthTap Video Plugin on a Windows computer (Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer):

1. Visit https://www.healthtap.com/feelGood/installers/HealthTap-Plugin-windows-v75.msi to download the HealthTap Video Plugin for Windows computers.
2. Find and open the file on your Computer (in Firefox, please select the blue download arrow in the top right corner of the browser window; in Internet Explorer, please visit your Downloads folder).
3. You will see an Open File - Security Warning prompt (The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?). Please select Run to proceed with the installation.
4. You will encounter the HealthTap Virtual Consults Plug-in Setup Wizard; please select Next, select your installation folder and press Next again, and select Next one more time to confirm the installation.
5. You may be asked if you would like to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer? – please select Yes.
6. After the installation is complete you may initiate a Virtual Consult with a health care professional.
7. During your first Virtual Consult, please look for a popup in the browser asking for permission for the browser to access and use the plugin. Please allow the browser to access and run HealthTap’s Video Plugin. 

Macintosh:

Installation of the HealthTap Video Plugin on a Macintosh computer (Mozilla Firefox or Safari):

1. Visit https://www.healthtap.com/feelGood/installers/HealthTap_Virtual_Consults_Plugin_v75.pkg to download the HealthTap Video Plugin for Macintosh computers.
2. Find and open the file on your Computer (in Firefox, please select the blue download arrow in the top right corner of the browser window; in Safari, please visit your “Downloads” folder).
3. Open the HealthTap_Virtual_Consults_Plugin_v75.pkg file and follow the guided steps to successfully install the HealthTap Virtual Consults Plug-in.
4. After the installation is complete you may initiate a Virtual Consult with a health care professional.
5. During your first Virtual Consult, please look for a popup in the browser asking for permission for the browser to access and use the plugin. Please allow the browser to access and run HealthTap’s Video Plugin.

How to share files with a health care professional

You may share files with your health care professional by adding a selected file during a consultation.

Should you choose to upload files to your account and have them available for future consults, you may do this by clicking on Files (on the left-hand menu if on a web browser or within You on a mobile device).

Files attached during a consult will automatically be added to your files. These are viewable under the File option on the left hand menu.

How do I find answers to my health questions?

To find health care professional’s answers to your questions on The Virtual DHB, log in and select the Answers link in the left hand menu.

What parts of my consultation are recorded?

The video and audio communication of a virtual consult are not automatically recorded.

Text chat, including notes from the health care professional, are saved in The Virtual DHB (HealthTap) but do not become part of the medical record.

Photos uploaded or taken during a consultation and the health care professional’s notes are stored in The Virtual DHB (HealthTap) as well as being added to your medical record at Waikato DHB.

This service provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation services for older people (65+ and those close in age and characteristics), and intensive rehabilitation for people under 65 years of age.

Services are provided in hospital, outpatient clinics, and in the community, including in clients’ homes.

A new building was completed in June 2013 to provide three wards and a clinic area. The building is shared with the Mental Health of Older People service.

Description

Older Persons and Rehabilitation services include:

• Combined Stroke service
  Provides acute care for patients with stroke and those stroke patients requiring assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
• Orthopaedic rehabilitation
  Works in collaboration with acute orthopaedics to ensure a seamless approach between post-operative or acute care of older people with fractures and active and intensive rehabilitation.
• General assessment, treatment and rehabilitation
  For people 65 years + or those close in age, interests and characteristics.
• Intensive rehabilitation
  For people 16 years + who meet set criteria.
• Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics
  Specialist-led clinics that take a multidisciplinary approach and address a wide range of issues and conditions of older patients referred by GPs or hospital services.
• Disability Support Link (DSL)
  Promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence. It identifies and coordinates home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula (except those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months and people will ACC-related conditions).
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)
  Provides intensive in-home rehabilitation to those discharged from hospital, focusing on achieving personal, meaningful goals identified by the patient and their family.

Key personnel

Barbara Garbutt
Group manager
Older Persons and Rehabilitation

Locations

Hamilton

• Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, Gate 3 Pembroke Street (west side), Hamilton.
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation wards
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics

See here for more details on ward and clinics locations

• Disability Support Link (DSL) , Hugh Monckton Building, Rostrevor Street, Hamilton but coordinates home support services across the Waikato district.
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)– team base is in the Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, but services are provided in clients’ homes across the Waikato district.

Thames Hospital
610 Mackay Street
Thames

• Two general assessment, treatment and rehabilitation wards
• Specialist-led clinics

Rhoda Read continuing care facility
222 Studholme Street
Morrinsville

Matariki continuing care facility
389 Kihikihi Road
Te Awamutu

Contact information

For all hospital departments and services (07) 839 8899

Referral information

• Referrals to OPR are by GPs and other health professionals, using the OPR single point of entry referral form 
• Referrals to Disability Support Link - please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
• Applications for end-of-life support - use this form

Information for health professionals

• Celebrating success in Older Persons and Rehabilitation 
  
• Delirium booklet (see under Delirium in the For health professions>Primary care guidelines section of the website)
• Ageing and Dementia: A compendium of New Zealand Research Literature

Vacancies

• Bupa Research Fellow/Specialist Physician in Older Persons and Rehabilitation
• Specialist Geriatrician / General Physician

FAST stroke campaign

• FAST stroke background information
• See the signs of a stroke - Think FAST

Disability Support Link (DSL) is a community-based organisation that provides a needs assessment and service coordination service for people with disabilities. It does not provide support services itself - it carries out a comprehensive assessment to determine the person's support needs, and then identifies suitable support services, arranges them, and reviews if the arrangement is working for the client.

Disability Support Link aims to promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence.

Those requesting assessment must have a disability as defined by the Ministry of Health:

“... a person with a disability is a person who has been identified as having a physical, psychiatric, intellectual, sensory or age-related disability (or a combination of these), which is likely to continue for a minimum of six months and result in a reduction of independent function to the extent that ongoing support is required..."

Description

Disability Support Link assists in obtaining home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula, and may include:

• Household assistance
• Personal care
• Day programmes (non-therapeutic)
• Carer support
• Residential care and support
• Referrals to other support services.

Exclusions
Disability Support Link does not have the capacity to assist the following clients:

• those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months
• people will ACC-related conditions.

What is a needs assessment?
The purpose of a needs assessment is to gather relevant information about a client’s current abilities, resources, goals and needs, then determining which of these agreed needs is most important to the client.

• The assessment is client-centred and comprehensive.
• Needs assessors work in partnership with clients and where appropriate their partners/significant others.
• Disability Support Link welcomes the support of family/whanau for their client during the assessment.
• Clients are asked to sign the completed assessment and are given a copy. Corrections to information can be made by the client.
• An assessor will visit you to gather information about your needs, and after the assessment, a service coordinator will contact you to discuss a package of care related to your identified support needs.

What is service coordination?
Service coordinators have extensive knowledge of all options including public, private, voluntary and community services.

• Your service coordinator will advise which of your needs can be met by publicly funded services and will also consider ways of meeting needs which cannot be covered by these services.
• Privacy and confidentiality will be safeguarded. You have the right to access all information arising from your assessment and service plan.

Review
Your services will be reviewed at least annually to ensure your needs are still being met.

• If your needs are not being met, the service coordinator will recommend an adjustment or arrange a reassessment. 
• If your needs or circumstances change, you may contact the service and ask for a review if you feel the services are not fully meeting your needs.

Policies

• Paid Family Care and Waikato DHB policy
  
  

InterRAI assessment tool

This is an electronic assessment tool that is used by appropriately trained health professionals in the management of older clients and those deemed as being of like in age and interest. It started as a Rest Home Assessment Instrument used in Canada and the US, but has now evolved into a suite of assessment tools that can be used on any older client in any environment.

Its development has involved a network of researchers in more than 30 countries and the assessment tools are used throughout the world, including district health boards throughout New Zealand.

• Why - to promote evidence-based clinical practice and policy decisions.
• How - through the collection and interpretation of high quality data about the characteristics and outcomes of persons across a variety of health and social services settings.

More information

• Read Only and Continuation Notes - User Guide
• Implementation of interRAI brochure

Key personnel

Graham Guy
Manager

Location

Hugh Monckton Building, cnr Rostrevor and Harwood Streets, Hamilton

Contact information

DSL Reception: (07) 839 1441
Freephone:   0800 55 33 99
Email: dsloffice@waikatodhb.health.nz 

Referral information

The client or caregiver’s consent must be obtained prior to making a referral. This is essential.
Referrals can be made by clients, by their family/whanau members, GPs, a health professional, disability support groups and organisations or a friend.  Please see contact details below.

• All referrals for clients aged over 65 years should go through the Referral Coordination Centre using the single point of entry referral form .Centre.
• All other referrals can be sent directly to Disability Support Link.
• Please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
•  DSL end-of-life care/carer support - application form

Appropriate advice and care

Disability Support Link has a commitment to providing competent and culturally appropriate assessors and service coordinators.
Please tell us if you have a particular cultural requirement, e.g. te reo Maori, interpreter, translator etc.

There are many health services that operate in the community and sometimes in people’s homes.

Waikato DHB funds or directly provides many of these community based health services. Rural and Community services are based at our rural hospitals and in 17 community bases for Family Health Teams across the DHB district.

Description

To learn about the services provided by Waikato DHB Rural and Community teams, watch this 6 minute video.

• Te Reo version of the Rural and Community teams video

Family Health Teams include the following health professionals

• Dietitians
• District nurses
• Occupational therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Public health nurses
• Social workers

The service also operates three rural hospitals which are located in communities other than Hamilton, and serve the towns and rural areas in their vicinity:

• Tokoroa Hospital
• Te Kuiti Hospital
• Taumarunui Hospital

Thames Hospital is a secondary hospital that is managed as part of a Waikato Hospital/Thames Hospital arrangement.

Other Rural and Community services include

• Acute Home Support 
• Clinical nurse specialists (continence, gerontology, Waikids, wound care)
• Community Equipment and Supply
• Community Oral Health (dental)
• Ear nurses
• Sexual Health
• Vision and hearing technicians

More information about what happens when we visit you .

Key personnel

Jill Dibble
Group Manager
Rural and Community

Location

List, locations and contact numbers of Waikato DHB Rural and Community Family Health Teams

Referral information

Referrals to community services are usually by a GP or other health professional. All referrals to the service are received and processed at the Community Regional Referral Centre fax: 07 858 1071. Referrals cannot be sent directly to the professional group or base.

Other health and disability support services and community-based programmes are provided by Waikato DHB's Mental Health and Addiction, Women’s Health, Waikids, and Older Persons and Rehabilitation, and Waikato Hospital outreach services including:

• Mental Health and Addictions community services
• Disability Support Link
• START (home-based rehabilitation for people who have had a hospital stay)
• Palliative Care (Regional Service with Hospice Waikato and community based nurses)
• Home-based dialysis
• Heart failure management service

Please click on the date below to view the agenda.

2016 Agendas

Historical agendas

If you require a historical agenda that's not yet been listed on the website, please email the request to  webmaster@waikatodhb.health.nz

Support for patients of The Virtual District Health Board - HealthTap

Can I use The Virtual DHB if I don't have the internet?

The Virtual DHB is a virtual (cloud based) service that requires internet access to use all functionality.

How do I sign up to The Virtual DHB (HealthTap)?

New Zealand residents can sign up to the service by taking photo ID along to the enquiries desks at the following hospitals: Waikato, Thames, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui or Tokoroa.

Once you have been verified you will be provided with details of your NHI (National Health Index) and a HealthTap access code.

To complete the sign up process, from a web browser visit https://virtualdhb.healthtap.co.nz/get_started. Please click on Sign up and follow the instructions. Enter your NHI and Access code when prompted. You will also need to have a private and personal email address (i.e. not a shared or work email address).

(see getting started for detailed instructions)

How do I access The Virtual District Health Board (HealthTap)

Once you are registered you can log in to your account from a browser by going to http://virtualdhb.healthtap.co.nz or by logging in to the free HealthTap mobile application available from the apple or android app stores.  PLease note: There is no app in windows store  currently.

I don't have a private or personal email address

Try creating an email address from

• Google - https://accounts.google.com/SignUp
• Yahoo - https://login.yahoo.com
• Microsoft - https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/outlook-com/

How do I install the plugin needed for virtual consultations on some browsers?

You will be prompted within the browser if you need to install the plug in. The following instructions can be also used to install the plugin.

Please note: The chrome browser does not need the plug in installed.

Windows:

Installation of the HealthTap Video Plugin on a Windows computer (Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer):

1. Visit https://www.healthtap.com/feelGood/installers/HealthTap-Plugin-windows-v75.msi to download the HealthTap Video Plugin for Windows computers.
2. Find and open the file on your Computer (in Firefox, please select the blue download arrow in the top right corner of the browser window; in Internet Explorer, please visit your Downloads folder).
3. You will see an Open File - Security Warning prompt (The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?). Please select Run to proceed with the installation.
4. You will encounter the HealthTap Virtual Consults Plug-in Setup Wizard; please select Next, select your installation folder and press Next again, and select Next one more time to confirm the installation.
5. You may be asked if you would like to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer? – please select Yes.
6. After the installation is complete you may initiate a Virtual Consult with a health care professional.
7. During your first Virtual Consult, please look for a popup in the browser asking for permission for the browser to access and use the plugin. Please allow the browser to access and run HealthTap’s Video Plugin. 

Macintosh:

Installation of the HealthTap Video Plugin on a Macintosh computer (Mozilla Firefox or Safari):

1. Visit https://www.healthtap.com/feelGood/installers/HealthTap_Virtual_Consults_Plugin_v75.pkg to download the HealthTap Video Plugin for Macintosh computers.
2. Find and open the file on your Computer (in Firefox, please select the blue download arrow in the top right corner of the browser window; in Safari, please visit your “Downloads” folder).
3. Open the HealthTap_Virtual_Consults_Plugin_v75.pkg file and follow the guided steps to successfully install the HealthTap Virtual Consults Plug-in.
4. After the installation is complete you may initiate a Virtual Consult with a health care professional.
5. During your first Virtual Consult, please look for a popup in the browser asking for permission for the browser to access and use the plugin. Please allow the browser to access and run HealthTap’s Video Plugin.

How to share files with a health care professional

You may share files with your health care professional by adding a selected file during a consultation.

Should you choose to upload files to your account and have them available for future consults, you may do this by clicking on Files (on the left-hand menu if on a web browser or within You on a mobile device).

Files attached during a consult will automatically be added to your files. These are viewable under the File option on the left hand menu.

How do I find answers to my health questions?

To find health care professional’s answers to your questions on The Virtual DHB, log in and select the Answers link in the left hand menu.

What parts of my consultation are recorded?

The video and audio communication of a virtual consult are not automatically recorded.

Text chat, including notes from the health care professional, are saved in The Virtual DHB (HealthTap) but do not become part of the medical record.

Photos uploaded or taken during a consultation and the health care professional’s notes are stored in The Virtual DHB (HealthTap) as well as being added to your medical record at Waikato DHB.

This service provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation services for older people (65+ and those close in age and characteristics), and intensive rehabilitation for people under 65 years of age.

Services are provided in hospital, outpatient clinics, and in the community, including in clients’ homes.

A new building was completed in June 2013 to provide three wards and a clinic area. The building is shared with the Mental Health of Older People service.

Description

Older Persons and Rehabilitation services include:

• Combined Stroke service
  Provides acute care for patients with stroke and those stroke patients requiring assessment, treatment and rehabilitation.
• Orthopaedic rehabilitation
  Works in collaboration with acute orthopaedics to ensure a seamless approach between post-operative or acute care of older people with fractures and active and intensive rehabilitation.
• General assessment, treatment and rehabilitation
  For people 65 years + or those close in age, interests and characteristics.
• Intensive rehabilitation
  For people 16 years + who meet set criteria.
• Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics
  Specialist-led clinics that take a multidisciplinary approach and address a wide range of issues and conditions of older patients referred by GPs or hospital services.
• Disability Support Link (DSL)
  Promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence. It identifies and coordinates home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula (except those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months and people will ACC-related conditions).
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)
  Provides intensive in-home rehabilitation to those discharged from hospital, focusing on achieving personal, meaningful goals identified by the patient and their family.

Key personnel

Barbara Garbutt
Group manager
Older Persons and Rehabilitation

Locations

Hamilton

• Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, Gate 3 Pembroke Street (west side), Hamilton.
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation wards
  • Older Persons and Rehabilitation clinics

See here for more details on ward and clinics locations

• Disability Support Link (DSL) , Hugh Monckton Building, Rostrevor Street, Hamilton but coordinates home support services across the Waikato district.
• START (Supported Transfer and Accelerated Rehabilitation Team)– team base is in the Older Persons and Rehabilitation Building, but services are provided in clients’ homes across the Waikato district.

Thames Hospital
610 Mackay Street
Thames

• Two general assessment, treatment and rehabilitation wards
• Specialist-led clinics

Rhoda Read continuing care facility
222 Studholme Street
Morrinsville

Matariki continuing care facility
389 Kihikihi Road
Te Awamutu

Contact information

For all hospital departments and services (07) 839 8899

Referral information

• Referrals to OPR are by GPs and other health professionals, using the OPR single point of entry referral form 
• Referrals to Disability Support Link - please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
• Applications for end-of-life support - use this form

Information for health professionals

• Celebrating success in Older Persons and Rehabilitation 
  
• Delirium booklet (see under Delirium in the For health professions>Primary care guidelines section of the website)
• Ageing and Dementia: A compendium of New Zealand Research Literature

Vacancies

• Bupa Research Fellow/Specialist Physician in Older Persons and Rehabilitation
• Specialist Geriatrician / General Physician

FAST stroke campaign

• FAST stroke background information
• See the signs of a stroke - Think FAST

Disability Support Link (DSL) is a community-based organisation that provides a needs assessment and service coordination service for people with disabilities. It does not provide support services itself - it carries out a comprehensive assessment to determine the person's support needs, and then identifies suitable support services, arranges them, and reviews if the arrangement is working for the client.

Disability Support Link aims to promote a person’s quality of life and create an environment that enables community participation and maximum independence.

Those requesting assessment must have a disability as defined by the Ministry of Health:

“... a person with a disability is a person who has been identified as having a physical, psychiatric, intellectual, sensory or age-related disability (or a combination of these), which is likely to continue for a minimum of six months and result in a reduction of independent function to the extent that ongoing support is required..."

Description

Disability Support Link assists in obtaining home support services for people with disabilities in the Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley and Coromandel Peninsula, and may include:

• Household assistance
• Personal care
• Day programmes (non-therapeutic)
• Carer support
• Residential care and support
• Referrals to other support services.

Exclusions
Disability Support Link does not have the capacity to assist the following clients:

• those with short-term illnesses that will require support services for less than six months
• people will ACC-related conditions.

What is a needs assessment?
The purpose of a needs assessment is to gather relevant information about a client’s current abilities, resources, goals and needs, then determining which of these agreed needs is most important to the client.

• The assessment is client-centred and comprehensive.
• Needs assessors work in partnership with clients and where appropriate their partners/significant others.
• Disability Support Link welcomes the support of family/whanau for their client during the assessment.
• Clients are asked to sign the completed assessment and are given a copy. Corrections to information can be made by the client.
• An assessor will visit you to gather information about your needs, and after the assessment, a service coordinator will contact you to discuss a package of care related to your identified support needs.

What is service coordination?
Service coordinators have extensive knowledge of all options including public, private, voluntary and community services.

• Your service coordinator will advise which of your needs can be met by publicly funded services and will also consider ways of meeting needs which cannot be covered by these services.
• Privacy and confidentiality will be safeguarded. You have the right to access all information arising from your assessment and service plan.

Review
Your services will be reviewed at least annually to ensure your needs are still being met.

• If your needs are not being met, the service coordinator will recommend an adjustment or arrange a reassessment. 
• If your needs or circumstances change, you may contact the service and ask for a review if you feel the services are not fully meeting your needs.

Policies

• Paid Family Care and Waikato DHB policy
  
  

InterRAI assessment tool

This is an electronic assessment tool that is used by appropriately trained health professionals in the management of older clients and those deemed as being of like in age and interest. It started as a Rest Home Assessment Instrument used in Canada and the US, but has now evolved into a suite of assessment tools that can be used on any older client in any environment.

Its development has involved a network of researchers in more than 30 countries and the assessment tools are used throughout the world, including district health boards throughout New Zealand.

• Why - to promote evidence-based clinical practice and policy decisions.
• How - through the collection and interpretation of high quality data about the characteristics and outcomes of persons across a variety of health and social services settings.

More information

• Read Only and Continuation Notes - User Guide
• Implementation of interRAI brochure

Key personnel

Graham Guy
Manager

Location

Hugh Monckton Building, cnr Rostrevor and Harwood Streets, Hamilton

Contact information

DSL Reception: (07) 839 1441
Freephone:   0800 55 33 99
Email: dsloffice@waikatodhb.health.nz 

Referral information

The client or caregiver’s consent must be obtained prior to making a referral. This is essential.
Referrals can be made by clients, by their family/whanau members, GPs, a health professional, disability support groups and organisations or a friend.  Please see contact details below.

• All referrals for clients aged over 65 years should go through the Referral Coordination Centre using the single point of entry referral form .Centre.
• All other referrals can be sent directly to Disability Support Link.
• Please note the DSL Referral Guidelines
•  DSL end-of-life care/carer support - application form

Appropriate advice and care

Disability Support Link has a commitment to providing competent and culturally appropriate assessors and service coordinators.
Please tell us if you have a particular cultural requirement, e.g. te reo Maori, interpreter, translator etc.

There are many health services that operate in the community and sometimes in people’s homes.

Waikato DHB funds or directly provides many of these community based health services. Rural and Community services are based at our rural hospitals and in 17 community bases for Family Health Teams across the DHB district.

Description

To learn about the services provided by Waikato DHB Rural and Community teams, watch this 6 minute video.

• Te Reo version of the Rural and Community teams video

Family Health Teams include the following health professionals

• Dietitians
• District nurses
• Occupational therapists
• Physiotherapists
• Public health nurses
• Social workers

The service also operates three rural hospitals which are located in communities other than Hamilton, and serve the towns and rural areas in their vicinity:

• Tokoroa Hospital
• Te Kuiti Hospital
• Taumarunui Hospital

Thames Hospital is a secondary hospital that is managed as part of a Waikato Hospital/Thames Hospital arrangement.

Other Rural and Community services include

• Acute Home Support 
• Clinical nurse specialists (continence, gerontology, Waikids, wound care)
• Community Equipment and Supply
• Community Oral Health (dental)
• Ear nurses
• Sexual Health
• Vision and hearing technicians

More information about what happens when we visit you .

Key personnel

Jill Dibble
Group Manager
Rural and Community

Location

List, locations and contact numbers of Waikato DHB Rural and Community Family Health Teams

Referral information

Referrals to community services are usually by a GP or other health professional. All referrals to the service are received and processed at the Community Regional Referral Centre fax: 07 858 1071. Referrals cannot be sent directly to the professional group or base.

Other health and disability support services and community-based programmes are provided by Waikato DHB's Mental Health and Addiction, Women’s Health, Waikids, and Older Persons and Rehabilitation, and Waikato Hospital outreach services including:

• Mental Health and Addictions community services
• Disability Support Link
• START (home-based rehabilitation for people who have had a hospital stay)
• Palliative Care (Regional Service with Hospice Waikato and community based nurses)
• Home-based dialysis
• Heart failure management service

Please click on the date below to view the agenda.

2016 Agendas

Historical agendas

If you require a historical agenda that's not yet been listed on the website, please email the request to  webmaster@waikatodhb.health.nz