Health and wellness programme Green Prescription is first in a number of community services that will be able to be referred to via CareConnect.

E-referrals to Green Prescription can now be made via the CareConnect referral platform (in addition to the CareSelect platform).

Up until now, CareConnect has been used only for referrals from primary to secondary care.

The new CareConnect form automatically refers patients to the correct Green Prescription provider – either Harbour Sport or Sport Auckland – based on the patient’s address.

Harbour Sport Active for Life Manager Laurinda Howarth says this will save GPs time and hassle.

“GPs won’t have to search for which Green prescription provider to refer their patients to because the system will do it automatically for them, which will save heaps of time and hassle,” she says.

The district health board will automatically receive a copy of the e-Referral for their records, giving them a more complete picture of the patient’s health. This currently doesn’t happen when referring via CareSelect.

Harbour Sport and Sport Auckland will also be able to communicate back and forth electronically with the GP who made the e-Referral, making communicating a lot easier.

Secure and accurate

Laurinda says referring a patient via CareConnect ensures the referral is received securely and with the correct and necessary information.

“Referrals made via email or fax can go missing and unfortunately we have had some experience with that happening. We can’t action a referral if we don’t receive it.”

Having all the correct and necessary information in the e-referral is also crucial.

“If we have the correct and necessary information in the referral then we don’t have to ring the GP or the nurse to get it, which saves everybody time.”

She says the teams at Harbour Sport and Sport Auckland are passionate about helping people increase their physical activity and improve their nutrition over the 12-week programme, and beyond.

“We want to help more people through the Green Prescription programme. We want to affect change and we have such great teams of highly qualified and highly motivated people who can do that.”

She says people are often confused about what they should be eating and what is healthy.

“There is so much information overload around fad diets and what’s good for you which can be very confusing for people. We help people a lot with nutrition but we keep it simple so people don’t have that confusion,” she says.

“We’re getting such great results with people leading more active and healthier lifestyles. We do a lot on eating well on a budget and a lot in the mental health space. When people feel connected to their community and feel wanted and valued, they feel better.”

How to refer patients to a Green Prescription provider:

• open the patient record
• select the HealthLink icon
• click on the CareConnect e-Referrals link
• launch the “Green Prescription” service
• complete the referral form.