Call for end to rehabilitation’s Cinderella status

Experts call for end to rehabilitation’s Cinderella status

Two of New Zealand’s leading rehabilitation experts today called on the government to end rehabilitation’s reputation as the Cinderella of medicine.

Dr Samir Anwar, a rehabilitation specialist, and Duncan Reid, a former Olympic Games physiotherapist, made the plea today on the eve of the biennial Australasian rehabilitation conference in Queenstown.

Reid said rehabilitation was always considered the second-class citizen of the health world because it provided work not as glamorous as acute surgery or critical care medicine.

``An orthopaedic surgeon is seen as a star but someone in rehabilitation like a rehabilitation consultant, physiotherapist or occupational therapist is not seen in the same light. We’re not in the exciting world of sexy medical surgery. They make television shows out of operating theatres not therapy rooms,’’ Reid said.

``If a person suffers traumatic brain injury from any accident, they are covered by ACC to be rehabilitated. If someone suffers a stroke – and we’re not just talking older people – they have to pay for some or all of their ongoing physiotherapy and any other mental rehabilitation costs. We need to sort out this discrepancy that has gone on too long.’’

Anwar agreed that the Government needed to take rehabilitation seriously to end the days of it being the Cinderella of medicine.

``Rehabilitation medicine is a speciality and we need more funding to deliver and help so many people who have become disabled but could fully recover with more care and work. Our rehabilitation experts, ACC and Ministry of Health officials are thrashing out these issues at the conference this week but progress is slow.’’

Anwar and Reid, both of Auckland, are co-convenors of the conference which ends in Queenstown on Saturday. Health and disability commissioner Ron Peterson will address the conference of 250 specialists tomorrow.

Reid also said New Zealand had a high rate of head injury and experts had difficulties motivating people to recover faster.

``We try to give examples how determined young fit self employed people are, like jockeys, of wanting to get fit and back on the horse again after serious brain injury accidents but some people do not want to get better.

``ACC are keen to support us as more than 60 percent of their costs go not into treatment but paying people’s wages and salary for being off work. Only about 15 percent of their costs go into rehabilitation,’’ Reid said.

Weekly compensation claims and social rehabilitation for clients with serious injury make up over 60 percent of ACC’s claims liability of $19.6 billion. Claims liability is the amount of money required to fully fund the cost of all claims during their lifetime. Weekly compensation claims amount to a liability of $5.5 billion and social rehabilitation claims for seriously injured clients to a liability of $5.8 billion.

Some of the world’s other leading experts are at the four-day conference and about 250 New Zealand and Australian specialists in rehabilitation are talking about the major issues facing their medical treatment area. The conference will also include the 17th annual scientific meeting of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.

ENDS

© Scoop Media