Southern Cross Healthcare is one of the largest providers of private healthcare in New Zealand. Every year they provide elective surgery to more than 80,000 patients at their wholly owned and joint venture hospitals, as well as rehabilitation, physiotherapy, mental health, and workplace health services to further support the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders.
With patients’ health at the heart of all they do, they ensure their teams are as well-informed as possible about issues which may affect recovery and ongoing well-being.
The catering team at Southern Cross Invercargill Hospital, headed up by team leader, Fiona Welsh, recently went through the Dining Out Programme (DOP) provided by Coeliac NZ. This informative programme helps educate people on the requirements of people who live with coeliac disease and/or gluten intolerance.
Lisa McVie, Support Services Manager, from Southern Cross Invercargill said, “We are seeing an increase in gluten free and coeliac patients among the more than 4,200 people who we assist every year. We wanted to ensure we had the knowledge to cater properly for their dietary needs. One of our leadership team also has first-hand experience with coeliac disease and knows just how challenging eating out can be.”
The DOP programme was invaluable. We all learned so much from the course which brought a new appreciation for the challenges relating to being coeliac and how important it is to protect our patients, whānau, and staff who are affected. We were able to assess our current practices, implement new processes and checks, and are delighted to have successfully passed the independent audit.”
McVie said the online training was informative, easy to navigate and user-friendly. “The interview videos really drove home the message about food safety for coeliac and gluten intolerant people, and we have received amazing support from the team at Coeliac NZ. We would absolutely recommend taking this course and we will recommend the course to the other hospitals within the Southern Cross network.”
About Southern Cross Healthcare
Southern Cross Healthcare is the largest independent private healthcare network in the country. In the 2022 financial year, over 100,000 patients received elective surgery, high-end diagnostics, and cancer treatment services through its network of 21 wholly owned or joint venture hospitals and medical facilities.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders rely on Southern Cross Healthcare and its joint ventures for rehabilitation, community-based physiotherapy, mental health, and corporate wellness services each year. Services across the network are offered to insurance-funded, ACC, publicly-funded, and self-paying patients.
Southern Cross is a group of independent businesses united by a shared brand and not-for-profit ethos, with a vision of delivering healthier years for more New Zealanders. Together, Southern Cross group comprises New Zealand’s largest independent provider and funder of healthcare.