NZ’s hidden chronic health burden is even bigger than we thought
More than 80 percent of healthcare costs in New Zealand go toward caring for people with long-term or chronic conditions.
Startling as that statistic might seem, it won’t be so surprising to those working in our hospital wards and general practices.
Conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma are common, and many people live with two or more at once – something called multimorbidity.
It’s well known this requires ongoing care, often at a high level. What is less understood, however, is just how much of this need is missing from the hospital records, which health planning and funding greatly rely on.
As these records don’t always capture conditions managed by GPs in the community, it can be difficult to establish the full extent of multimorbidity.
Recently published research from the University of Auckland takes us closer to this – and suggests hospital records alone may fail to identify more than half of those found to have multiple long-term conditions.
Find out more about this research on differences in chronic health reporting between hospitals and general practice (The Conversation).