Out of town hospitalisation

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RIng Starship to see if they can re-emburse you some of the costs - I know Hamilton Hospital covered my sisters costs while her twins were still in the new born unit....

There should be a travel coordinator at the hospital that can give you some info.

I had to be flown from Welly to Hamilton as my twins were being induced early and there was no room in Welly. Our flights & DH's accomm were covered and once we got back to welly and while DD's were still in hospital we were able to claim mileage from home to the hospital. All of this was organised by the travel coordinator for us.

Im off to wellington tomorrow with DD, because we have been referred through the public system all of our travel is payed for. You need to register your DS with the system then they send you a letter outlining what you can claim for. Ring Starship and ask to talk to the patient travel person.

This is from the pamflet I have about travel assistance:

When your publicly finded specialist (not a GP) has referred you onto another publicly funded specialist, you may be eligible to receive travel assistance under this scheme. If eligible you will receive assistance towards your travel and possibly your accommodation costs. Your specialist will need to approve accommodation and specialised transport needs, this includes toxi, mobility taxt or air travel. Travel by privat vehicle or public transport is assesed on registration.

For a child to claim, if you answer yes to one or more of the following questions and you have been referred by your health or disability specialist, you are eligible to claim travel assistance.

Child to claim:
A child is anyone younger than 18 years of age at the time of treatment.
# Do you travel more than 80km one way, per visit?
#Do you visit a specialist 22 or more times in two months?
# Do you visit a specialist six or more times in six months, and travel more than 25km one way, per visit?
# are you a community services card holder and travel more than 25km on way , per visit?

contact the ministry of health on www.moh.govt.nz or ring 0900 281 222 (press 2)

I hope that helps

Everytime we have gone up to Starship our local DHB has paid for it (this includes my son, DH and I). The travel assistant at our local hospital organises it all for us, even a shuttle from the airport to Starship. The only expense to us is our other son, who we want to take with us.

I'd give your local hospital a call and ask to speak to the Patient Travel Co-ordinator.

Good luck!