7 Jun 2014

Hope to reduce Maori hospitalisations

10:07 am on 7 June 2014

Health professionals have been exploring how to reduce preventable hospital admissions for Maori.

Ministry of Health figures show that nationally, 681,369 people were admitted to hospital, according to data between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012.

111,138 of those admissions were for Maori patients.

The information's been passed on to people attending a recent Maori health seminar in Tauranga.

The hui focussed on ways to reduce ambulatory sensitive hospitalisations or admissions, which could have been treated in other ways such as visiting a GP or better housing.

Dr George Gray from the Bay of Plenty District Health Board's Maori Health Planning and Funding Unit said 20 per cent of all admissions could have been prevented.

He said there are 25 conditions, which don't always require a person to go to hospital such as asthma and dermatitis.

Dr Gray said as an example, a person may have been admitted due to a flare up in their asthma, which can be prevented if the person has the appropriate medication, at the right time.

He said it's also important to emphasise that these types of cases are influenced by other factors such as housing.