Healthworkers around the country could pick up on emergency changes their colleagues in Canterbury made after the Christchurch earthquakes to provide tailored rehabilitation services in at home for patients, a Cabinet minister says.
The region's health administrators brought in a Community Rehabilition, Enablement and Support Team, known as CREST, under urgency in Canterbury in April last year.
Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew says that more than 1000 people have so far used the system, which has helped them to reduce hospital stays or avoid them all together.
"There has been a number of other DHBs getting in touch because the word is getting out... This model has quite a lot of resonance with keeping people in their own homes as long as possible," she says.
