New asthma service takes over

A founding member of the Northland Asthma Society, Keith Emsden, 85, still takes Move to Improve exercise classes for asthma sufferers at the Kensington Gym twice a week. Photo/John Stone

The Northland Asthma Society has closed its doors, passing the baton to provide regional aid for asthmatics to the new Northland Respiratory Support Service.

Northland DHB identified the need for the new respiratory service, which is managed by two primary health organisations (PHOs) - Manaia Health PHO covering the Whangarei and Kaipara districts, and Te Tai Tokerau PHO, covering the Far North.

The Northland Asthma Society worked with the PHOs in the transition to the new service and former society operations manager Juliet Espiner said society members had voted for the change to take place.

The society had five staff - only one of them full-time - and was too small to cover the whole of Northland, which has about 8000 children requiring respiratory services, Ms Espiner said

Manaia Health PHO associate director of nursing Mary Carthew said the change recognised the need for people to have respiratory services that were well linked to their general practice, and to have a trained, sustainable health workforce available to all people across Northland.

"The workforce is supported by two respiratory nurse specialists/educators who are leading the service by providing expert knowledge to primary care staff and their patients," she said.

The new service has a strong focus on raising the skill and expertise of the nursing and medical general practice workforce across Northland. Extra resource has been made available for training on respiratory management and for enabling easier access to diagnostic testing.

Meanwhile, Asthma Auckland has made a bid to expand into Northland, claiming that while new Northland DHB contracts focus on improving the services of primary healthcare facilities, there will be little one-on-one specialist consultation.

Asthma Auckland CEO Linda Thompson said in a statement last week there would still be support available in Northland through GPs, but it would be only once people had experienced problems with asthma "which is like having an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff."

Ms Thompson said calls from Northland people had led Asthma Auckland staff to believe Northland asthmatics needed the Auckland service.

"We were not aware the PHOs were providing services. We just wanted to help," she said.

For information about the new Respiratory Support Service contact Sue Armstrong (Manaia Health) 021 454784 or Marilyn Dyer (TTT PHO) 021 711567.