WITH current pressures on hospitals and care homes being more acutely felt than at any other time in recent memory, the Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Trust) has re-emphasised the important role played by the Trust’s 'Hospital at Home' service.

The consultant-led service was launched in January with the aim of making individual patients' homes the hub for delivering health and care for our elderly population across the Western Trust area.

The 'Hospital at Home' service, which was developed in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, has received a high level of support from the public as it seeks to provide an additional strand of support to the Trust’s hospitals and care homes.

The service provides hospital-level care for ill patients who can safely manage in their own homes, whilst keeping them Covid-secure and closer to the people they love and within an environment that is familiar to them.

In turn, this service keeps additional stresses off hospital and care home facilities during what is an incredibly pressured period as winter approaches.

Since its launch, patients have been able to receive treatment and ongoing care in their own homes, removing a great deal of stress and inconvenience, which had been a particular cause of concern for patients during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The programme has been earmarked as a central element in the future regional model for intermediate care as well as the ‘Enhancing Clinical Care into Care Homes’ regional initiative in keeping with local needs, Pathfinder engagement feedback and regional policy.

Speaking about the important role played by the Hospital at Home programme, Claire Aiken, Western Trust Clinical Lead Nurse with the Hospital at Home Team, said: “Through the Hospital at Home Programme we provide an alternative to hospital assessment and admission.

"We strive to give hospital-level care for ill patients who can safely manage in their own homes, whilst keeping them closer to the people they love and within the environment that is familiar to them.

“We have the potential to treat most acute illness in adults over 18 years of age, with the exception of heart attack, stroke, trauma, sudden loss of consciousness, or an acute mental health crisis.”

Hospital at Home operates as a consultant-led team, with Dr. Mark Roberts leading, and is supported by a variety of staff, including Dr. Irfan Khan, who said: “The service is new, having started in December last year.

£We normally take patients form the GP and Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

“We can manage patients at home where they are stable, [with conditions such as] chest infection, cellulitis, dehydration [and others].

"We will take patients who are perhaps not keen to go to hospital, or who are quite frail and would prefer to be managed at home.

"Our staff go to patients' homes every day and treat them if there is any infection, or if they have dehydration or heart failure.

“We recognise that we have an increasingly elderly population, and patients who remain in hospital for what can be extended periods of time – longer than we would like – and thus are at increasing risk of hospital-acquired infections, and the loss of their confidence and social connections with their family and local community.

“These concerns are very real, and the Western Trust has developed the Hospital at Home programme with this key consideration in mind.

"Amongst older patients, many of which may feel anxious and distressed being away from their home environment, we often see an increase in stress.

"Patients, too, can experience an increase in frailty and be at increased risk of delirium and falls.”