The facility had been at the forefront of combining primary and secondary medical care since it was established, chief executive Ray Anton told the Otago Daily Times last week — a strategy that had paid dividends both financially and in patient care.
The organisation’s annual report, released last month, showed a surplus of $525,358 for the recent financial year.
This had allowed CHF to invest in additional medical hardware totalling $363,337, including a SonoSite portable bedside ultrasound machine, and improved chemotherapy facilities.
"There’s a continued shift towards rural health hubs, where facilities like ours take on additional services and provide them locally. Having state-of-the-art medical technology available to our staff is one element of that process, and enables more of our patients to remain close to their families, without unnecessary travel," Mr Anton said.
Further enhancing the CHF offering were improvements to the delivery of rural hospital medicine.
"Last year we recruited Dr Yan Wong as our medical director and, under his direction, we’ve been able to recruit additional rural hospital medical fellows."
This would enable CHF to admit children suffering with certain conditions, again avoiding a "disruptive" trip to Dunedin Hospital, he said.
As CHF began to expand its roll-out of the WellSouth Healthcare Home project, aiming to modernise and increase efficiency in general practice, patients would experience new ways of interacting with the facility.These included a patient portal and GP triage, Mr Anton said.
"We’ve introduced a patient portal allowing those registered to view certain health information online, and book appointments and repeat prescriptions. Early feedback has been positive."
GP triage was another drive towards greater efficiency, for patients and doctors alike.
"We’re trialling a scheme where instead of always receiving a face-to-face appointment, patients will receive a call from their GP the day before to ascertain whether a remote solution can be offered. For example, a change in antibiotics may be all that’s required, or a continuance of the current treatment."
At present GP triage was a free service, meaning patients could save unnecessary appointment costs.
"Spare" appointments could also be made available to others.
Having completed a significant, six-year refurbishment this year, CHF now had its eye on expansion, Mr Anton said.
