Hospital at Home offers a hospital standard of community care in people’s own homes for frailer patients – people who are at highest risk of poor health outcomes such as falls, long term disability, admission to hospital, or the need for long-term care.
The service has been successfully reducing hospital admissions across Hambleton and Richmondshire for more than 18 months and is now being rolled out across Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland.
Clinical service lead for Hambleton and Richmondshire, Karen Smith said: “Hospital at Home has helped reduce avoidable admissions by 43% while providing care closer to home.
“We are now looking to double the number of Hospital at Home patients we can care for across Hambleton and Richmondshire by April 2024.”
The Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland service recently launched in March and is now taking referrals from NHS 111, paramedics, urgent community response (UCR), the emergency department, urgent treatment centres and some GP surgeries and hospital wards.
Patients are monitored daily by a team of nurses and therapists and are overseen by a GP or consultant. Visits from the team are arranged as and when required to meet individual needs.
It has already helped around 45 patients and most stay with the service for just over a week.
Clinical lead for Tees, Sarah Mallett said: “We really are bringing the hospital to you. We can offer a full assessment, the same as what you would receive in accident and emergency, and we bring everything with us – from blood pressure monitors to ECG machines.
“We mainly see people with increasing frailty and ongoing long term health needs.
“We are already getting lots of positive feedback from patients and relatives because Hospital at Home helps to ensure people are getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
Rebecca Shea clinical service lead for Tees added: “With national drivers around providing that ‘care closer to home’ we aim to provide a convenient level of health support and monitoring in a patient’s own place of residence, as long as it is safe to do so.”