‘Community pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are seen most often, they are the first point of contact into the primary healthcare system for the majority of health consumers.’ – Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand Topics relating to the ‘Support for people with high and complex needs’ outcome area Family and whānau caring for older people There was support for the Strategy’s goal of building the resilience and capability of family and whānau, volunteer and other community groups supporting people with high and complex needs, as well as those with end-of-life care needs. The majority of those providing comment under this heading wanted the Strategy to signal an increase in respite care (access to paid relievers who can give family and whānau caring for older people ‘time off’ to do other things). Some submitters also referred to the need for more training for family and whānau in caring roles. Frailty The Strategy’s focus on reducing frailty in the community was supported. There was also support for using a frailty identification tool. A number of submitters suggested that such tools are already available, with several mentioning a function in interRAI. They considered that the priority is building responsiveness to frailty rather than exploring the best use of an identification tool. Some submitters thought that frailty should be defined as a long-term condition; others thought that an agreed definition of frailty was required. Issues relating to establishing of effective and evidence-based measures of frailty were noted. Long-term mental illness and addiction There was support for the Strategy action to improve physical and mental health outcomes of older people with long term mental illness and addiction. It was noted that people with mental illness experience significantly higher rates of premature mortality and morbidity. This is due to reduced access to health care relating to stigmatisation, discrimination, diagnostic overshadowing (where problems are attributed to intellectual disability and health and mental health conditions are overlooked and not treated), and poor management of their physical co-morbidities. Submitters endorsed the goal of improving the detection of long-term conditions, particularly in relation to mental health and addiction. One submitter recommended giving this goal higher priority and improving the capacity to measure progress in reducing the gaps in health care access and delivery for people with these conditions. Submitters also recommended supporting and developing a medical workforce to manage older people with dementia, complex and co-morbid presentations, including mental
‘Community pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are seen most often, they are the first point of contact into the primary healthcare system for the majority of health consumers.’ – Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand Topics relating to the ‘Support for people with high and complex needs’ outcome area Family and whānau caring for older people There was support for the Strategy’s goal of building the resilience and capability of family and whānau, volunteer and other community groups supporting people with high and complex needs, as well as those with end-of-life care needs. The majority of those providing comment under this heading wanted the Strategy to signal an increase in respite care (access to paid relievers who can give family and whānau caring for older people ‘time off’ to do other things). Some submitters also referred to the need for more training for family and whānau in caring roles. Frailty The Strategy’s focus on reducing frailty in the community was supported. There was also support for using a frailty identification tool. A number of submitters suggested that such tools are already available, with several mentioning a function in interRAI. They considered that the priority is building responsiveness to frailty rather than exploring the best use of an identification tool. Some submitters thought that frailty should be defined as a long-term condition; others thought that an agreed definition of frailty was required. Issues relating to establishing of effective and evidence-based measures of frailty were noted. Long-term mental illness and addiction There was support for the Strategy action to improve physical and mental health outcomes of older people with long term mental illness and addiction. It was noted that people with mental illness experience significantly higher rates of premature mortality and morbidity. This is due to reduced access to health care relating to stigmatisation, discrimination, diagnostic overshadowing (where problems are attributed to intellectual disability and health and mental health conditions are overlooked and not treated), and poor management of their physical co-morbidities. Submitters endorsed the goal of improving the detection of long-term conditions, particularly in relation to mental health and addiction. One submitter recommended giving this goal higher priority and improving the capacity to measure progress in reducing the gaps in health care access and delivery for people with these conditions. Submitters also recommended supporting and developing a medical workforce to manage older people with dementia, complex and co-morbid presentations, including mental
summary-consultation-health-older-people-strategy-feb17.docx