Your
Diabetes Healthcare and Local Diabetes Services
Lakes
District Health Board (DHB) is one of 21 DHBs established
in 2001, and is responsible for healthcare services in the Lakes
area, which includes the Rotorua and Taupo regions. The DHB
funds secondary providers and primary providers, private providers,
Maori providers, mental health service providers and non-government
organisations. The DHB is also responsible for needs assessment
of its population, and for planning health service delivery.
How
is diabetes care organised locally? The
national framework for diabetes outlines the relationships
between various people and processes involved in the provision
of diabetes care within the DHB.
The
Local Diabetes Team (LDT) plays a central role in advising
on diabetes services in the area. The LDT is a team of people
that meets every two months and reports to the DHB on all matters
relating to diabetes. The team is comprised of just over twenty
individuals, representing a wide range of patient and provider
interests (including our Diabetes NZ Rotorua representative,
Eve Waldman).
Your
diabetes care may come from one of many provider arms, or
a combination of several; these may include:
- Primary
care/ GP practice
- Maori
or Pacific Island services
- Hospital-based
specialist services
- Eye
care services
It
is important that you know who is coordinating your
diabetes care, and who you can turn to for help.
Get
Checked!
The
government funds one free health check per year for all
eligible people living with diabetes in New Zealand.
Find
out what you should expect of your annual review, and why it's
so important that you should make the most of the Government's
Get Checked program.
>>
More about Annual Checks
Help
with healthcare costs
The
New Zealand healthcare system can be a bit of a jungle, especially
to newcomers, or those who have previously been in good health
and not used it much. As a person with diabetes, you will probably
be utilising various health services on a regular basis - and
this can lead to rising healthcare costs. However,
there are ways that the Government help to subsidise people
with chronic conditions - such as diabetes:
- Subsidised
Medicines and other Diabetes Supplies
- Community
Services Card
- High
Use Health Card
- Pharmaceutical
Subsidy Card
>>
More information on the Ministry of Health Website
The
Specialists
