New era of healthcare assistance in Otago

Launch of “HealthSearch” ushers in new era of healthcare assistance in Otago

In a New Zealand first, from this month un-well people will be able to use a new and innovative website giving details of health practitioners from all fields, including alternative therapies, the treatments they offer and their qualifications.

Called HealthSearch, it is designed to be a health practitioner reference source which GPs can refer their patients towards, and it will be a resource patients can find themselves. It will be officially launched at a public lecture at the University of Otago with the title “Celebrating diversity and cooperation in healthcare” on March 7.

The web-site has been set up to recognise that people increasingly want to use a variety of healthcare approaches, including both conventional medical treatments and complementary and alternative therapies.

The website is the brainchild of the Integrative Health Trust Otago (IHTO), a group of GPs, specialists, complementary health practitioners, academics and members of the public, who began working together after a GP conference held in Dunedin in 2003.

Group spokesperson and lecturer in General Practice Dr Monika Clark-Grill says the conference and the website launch will highlight the importance of an integrative approach to health care.

“The idea for this came from the realisation that people, particularly those who experience a health crisis, are often left with little to go on when looking for suitable health practitioners,” Dr Clark-Grill says.
“The unique thing about the website is that it is a one-stop-shop which provides information about practitioners who are both conventional and complementary/alternative healthcare providers.”

People often seek out treatments outside of conventional therapies, such as naturopathy or massage.
“We wanted to create an information tool that would enable the local community to see who the local practitioners are, what they are practicing and what qualifications and experience they have,” says Dr Clark- Grill.

“But we also wanted to make the same detailed information available about conventional practitioners like GPs or Physiotherapists – in fact about anybody who can be directly accessed by the public.

“By being registered with the website healthcare practitioners are showing their willingness to assist people with making informed choices” she says.

Approaches to patient health care, where practitioners work as part of multi-disciplinary teams that might also offer complementary services chosen by patients, is a growing trend and is now included in medical education at the University of Otago.

Speakers at the launch will include Associate Professor David Perez, Oncologist and Director of the Early Learning in Medicine Programme; Professor David Baxter, Dean of the School of Physiotherapy with a special interest in complementary and alternative medicine; Dr Ruth Barnett, GP and tutor of medical students, Geoff Mirkin, solicitor and chair person of the Trust; Janine Joyce, counsellor and Reiki practitioner. Dr Clark-Grill will also speak.

The launch of HealthSearch will be at 5.30pm on 7 March 2011 at the Otago Museum’s Hutton Theatre and is open to the public.

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