Targets might be met but need is clearly not

22nd September 2016

Targets might be met but need is clearly not

“There are more people needing hip and knee joint replacements than can be managed by District Health Boards (DHBs) but it seems that access to life changing surgery does depend on your address.” Sandra Kirby, Arthritis New Zealand Chief Executive said today. She was referring to the New Zealand Medical Journal article showing that smaller DHBs such as West Coast, Whanganui and South Canterbury provided higher rates of surgery for people than larger DHBs..

“We know that the incidence of osteoarthritis is increasing, and the age of diagnosis is dropping. This is resulting in people being unable to work or in some cases manage day to day activities such as bathing and dressing, causing additional financial burdens.”

“While we acknowledge recent funding increases for elective surgery have resulted in an increase in hip and knee replacements for people with arthritis, the demand continues to outstrip the capacity of the DHBs. It seems like each week the media carries another person’s experience of living with the crippling pain of arthritis having being turned down for publicly funded surgery”
“There is much that can be done to reduce the health burden of arthritis. Programmes like tailored exercises, pain management, self management and physiotherapy have all been proven to help. We have welcomed the new Mobility Action programmes which are based on this approach, that have been initiated in 2016 but note that these pilot programmes are a mere drop in the bucket compared to the demonstrated need.

“If the government is serious about addressing the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people with osteoarthritis, and reducing the pressure on joint replacement surgery they need to invest as much in early intervention and primary prevention programmes to achieve a long term dividend in the form of a reduced health burden.”

This report being released on the Arthritis New Zealand collection day starkly underlines the need for services for people with arthritis.”

ends

© Scoop Media