A disability alert is an icon in our patient admin systems that lets our staff know you have specific support needs and how to meet them.
It is different to other alerts in the system as it usually does not include clinical information. Instead, it provides notes to make sure the hospital environment is made as accessible to you 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 making sure 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 National Health Index (NHI) number
- your full name
- what you would like the alert to tell us about you.
You can let any of our administrative staff know 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
Disability alert example
Mary is blind and has specific support needs to communicate and move around freely. For example, her disability alert may say:
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 do not distract her guide dog as this is a working dog.
Mary would like her documents and appointments emailed to her as she has a screen reader on her computer that reads digital content out to her.