Disability alerts
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A disability alert is an icon shown within patient admininstration systems to let our staff know you have specific support needs.
A disability alert provides information for health care professionals to meet your support needs. It is different to other alerts on the medical system as it tends not to include clinical information. The alert can provide valuable notes to ensure that the hospital environment is made as accessible as possible.
Small changes to the environment can completely change a person’s experience. The alert can also make it easier for staff to prepare in advance.
All our staff are responsible for ensuring that your support needs are met during your visit to the hospital - disability alerts help us to do this.
To create an alert, you need to let us know your NHI number, your full name and what you would like the alert to tell us about you. You can let any of our administrative staff know that you need an alert placed on your SIPICS (South Island Patient Information Care System) file, or you can email the information to disability@southerndhb.govt.nz
An example of an alert need: Mary is blind
Mary has experienced loss of sight since birth and has specific support needs to ensure she is able to communicate and move around freely. For example, her disability alert may read:
- Mary is blind – she will need her guide dog to be present with her at all times and will need someone to also guide her to her destination. Please don’t distract her guide dog – this is a working dog.
- Mary would like her appointments emailed to her so she doesn’t have to have someone read them out to her. Her email is supplied
- Mary would like any documentation emailed to her rather than posted as she has a reader that can read her documents through her computer.