Severely brain-injured will have to travel for treatment as rehab forced to close – Stuff.co.nz

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF

Pauline Dawson, a registered nurse with 40 years' experience, never thought she would be made redundant.

People with traumatic brain injuries will have to travel to another city for treatment when Christchurchs only specialist rehabilitation clinic closes.

The closure of the unit in November means about 15 staff will likely lose their jobs and patients from Canterbury, the West Coast, Nelson and Marlborough will have to travel to Dunedin, Wellington or Auckland for rehabilitation.

ACC introduced a new funding model in April last year, paying a daily rate for clients instead of providing bulk funding to providers. A drop in demand since left the Christchurch unit financially unsustainable.

READ MORE: * Married at First Sight, Bachelor NZ star Bel Clarke suffers traumatic brain injury while walking her dog * Disabled patients left in lurch by rehab centre closure get second chance

Christchurch brain injury rehabilitation specialist Dr Xiang Hu Xiong said the closure was potentially dangerous for future patients.

Travelling to another city for rehabilitation would be hugely detrimental and could compromise patients recovery, he said.

Its going to be a huge loss for the Canterbury region and I am deeply concerned for the patients and their [families].

STACY SQUIRES/Stuff

Registered nurse Pauline Dawson is upset she is likely to lose her job at the only Traumatic Brain Injury rehabilitation service in Christchurch

The five-bed facility is run by The Laura Fergusson Trust.

Registered nurse Pauline Dawson, who has worked at the unit for three years, said the closure was a loss for patients. Thirty to 40 people a year spent, on average, three months at the unit once they left hospital, she said.

Dawson said the Christchurch unit had tried to reduce costs, but it was now running at a loss and concluded its only choice was to close.

When it was bulk funded we got paid regardless of how many clients we had. Now its only paid day by day. We still need to run the unit when it is not fully booked.

Have you been treated at the clinic and are willing to tell your story? Email newstips@stuff.co.nz

The trust was contracted to treat up to five ACC inpatients. Its three current ACC clients would likely be discharged before it closed.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), which has facilities in Wellington and Auckland, was also affected by ACCs funding changes and decreased demand.

An ACC spokeswoman said it was common for people to travel for specialist services, such as to brain injury, spinal cord and burns units.

ACC was revising how it funded the traumatic brain injury services, which were highly specialised and cost a lot to run.

The Canterbury District Health Board used to have the ACC contract to run traumatic brain injury rehabilitation from Burwood Hospital, but lost the contract to the trust about five years ago, Dawson said.

Stuff

See the article here:
Severely brain-injured will have to travel for treatment as rehab forced to close - Stuff.co.nz