New national trauma rehabilitation quality improvement project underway

The new national trauma rehabilitation quality improvement project, which aims to understand and improve rehabilitation for major trauma patients, is underway.

In March 2019 the ACC contracted the Health Quality & Safety Commission to provide support to the National Trauma Network’s programme of work.

The Network identified trauma rehabilitation as an area for the Commission to focus on as part of the quality improvement workstream of the programme, with the aim of ensuring major trauma patients receive timely support throughout their recovery through high-quality rehabilitation services. Patients’ recovery once they are discharged from acute care is of particular interest.

The project will look at improving existing services and ensuring better access to them so patients and their whānau are able to access the right rehabilitation services at the right time and achieve the best recovery possible. It will use a co-design approach with consumers to identify and understand problems and issues and design and implement resolutions. Local project teams will resolve problems and issues via a national collaborative.

Physiotherapist Kat Quick has been appointed clinical lead for the project. Kat has over 16 years' experience in rehabilitation both within New Zealand and in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. She has a special interest in rehabilitation following major trauma, neurosurgery and traumatic brain injury, and her clinical experience ranges across the patient pathway from acute to community settings.

An expert advisory group of external experts, consumer representatives and key stakeholders will be established to provide advice to the project. The National Trauma Network’s clinical lead and programme manager are also involved.

To help scope the current picture of service provision throughout the country and opportunities for improvement, a major trauma rehabilitation discovery workshop will be held in Wellington on 2 September.

Anyone with an interest in major trauma rehabilitation is welcome to attend. Places are limited. More information, including a registration form, can be found in our event listing.