Steve Gibbins spends most days in a lot of pain.
The Christchurch father-of-two has chronic pancreatitis, Factor 8 deficiency and chronic pain syndrome.
While he tries to live a normal life, sometimes his pain is so bad that he needs pain killers that he can only get as an inpatient at Christchurch Hospital.
“For a long time it was sheer misery,” Steve recalls.
While he is in and out of hospital when his pain gets really bad, a few years ago it wasn’t just the pain that was getting him down.
The now retired computer engineer was also suffering through a lengthy process every time he needed hospital treatment.
“I had to see my GP and they would call an ambulance. That was $65 for the doctor, a wait for the ambo and there was no fast tracking and no direct admission [to hospital]. It was pointless and a waste of everyone’s time at every level.”
Thanks to an Acute Plan developed with his specialist in the hospital, Steve can now get help for his chronic pain faster and easier.
An Acute Plan records the actions that a person with complex health conditions and their health professionals recommend when they are really unwell.
In Canterbury, Acute Plans are shared electronically with any health professional supporting that person, including a GP, specialist, nurse or a pharmacist. The plans can be edited and updated by any of these health professionals.
Shared care plans like these help health professionals to work together in the care of their patients.
Regardless of who takes Steve’s phone call and meets him in the hospital ward, they can see straight away that Steve can be fast-tracked, which treatment is recommended and what they should do when he is ready to go back home.
“If they (the doctor or nurse) can’t find it, I can tell them exactly where it is,” Steve says. “The details that are relevant to them should miraculously appear.”
Steve also has his own copy of the plan and his wife and two children are all well versed in what is in it and the actions they should take if Steve can’t make them himself. Steve’s plan is able to be edited each time there is a change in his treatment.
Since it was developed, Steve says he’s spent less time in ED waiting and the process for direct admission has improved significantly.
Steve sums it up quite simply: “As a result, I suffer less.”
Improved shared care plans were recently launched in Canterbury. For more information or to speak to a Collaborative Care Liaison, email info@ccn.health.nz or visit http://bit.ly/sharedcareplans.