Call for end to rehabilitation’s Cinderella status

Experts call for end to rehabilitation’s Cinderella status
July 22, 2009

Increasing costs and less than satisfactory rehabilitation outcomes are unsustainable and can not carry on, ACC spokesperson Gail Kettle told the Australasian rehabilitation conference in Queenstown today.

Claims had increased by four percent and the ageing population had impacted on costs to ACC. Kettle said rising costs providing treatment and rehabilitation was five times greater than cost of living increases.

``We spend about $1.5 billion a year old on treatment rehabilitation and we get about 1.8 million claims a year. Of those only six percent need no more than one or two treatments in a year and about 100 claims a year are the very serious brain and spinal cord injuries.

``Our message is the rate of cost increases and rehabilitation outcomes are not improving.
The cost pressures and rehabilitation outcomes are not sustainable. It just can’t carry on.
Our rehab rates are getting worse. These are measured how long someone is off work and paid earning related compensation.’’

The cost increases were a world wide trend, not just in New Zealand. Population ageing, and employment rates were contributing factors said Kettle, who is ACC’s director of health purchasing and provider relationships.

``ACC is changing what we purchase for our clients. We are changing rehabilitation methods after people suffer injury. We are providing people who can work with a range of other health providers so we can get people back to work more quickly.’’

The general trend was people in labour intensive jobs would find it hard to get back to work. It was not necessarily their attitude though in some cases it can be, she said.

Two of New Zealand’s leading rehabilitation experts have 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 to be more supportive of rehabilitation. People who suffer injuries are covered by ACC which is not funded to care for people who suffer strokes or other medical mishaps.

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 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