Northern Health and Social Care Trust launches new ‘Hospital at Home’ service in East Antrim
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust has launched a new community-based service where hospital-level care is delivered to residents in 15 care homes in the East Antrim area.
The ‘Hospital at Home’ service enables patients who meet specific clinical criteria to receive treatment in their care home, helping them to avoid a hospital stay.
Patients are cared for by a visiting team of health professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals and a clinical consultant.
Welcoming the launch, the NHSCT’s Director of Operations Gillian Traub said: “We are really pleased that we are now in a position to introduce this service in the Northern Trust. Providing care for people in the home setting can often have better outcomes. They can recover faster and it reduces the risks associated with staying in a hospital ward. This is particularly important for those who are older and frail as we know they are particularly vulnerable.
“In the Northern Trust area we care for an ageing population, often with complex health conditions and it’s therefore vital that we put targeted measures in place so that we can support them and help reduce demand on our acute hospital services.”
Sharon Bell, Manager at Clareview Nursing Home added: “A hospital admission can often be stressful for our residents and their families. The new environment can cause confusion and anxiety and some patients can actually decline after being admitted to hospital. The introduction of the new service means that our residents can receive the acute care that they require while remaining here in the comfort and familiarity of their normal surroundings.”
The service will be expanded to include more settings in the future.
For residents and their families or carers who want to learn more about Hospital at Home, information is available in the care homes where the service is now operating.
Meanwhile, the NHSCT is encouraging members of the public to download an app that allows users to access specific parts of their medical records.
The ‘My Care’ patient portal, which has been downloaded by 70,000 people so far, gives patients access to specific parts of their medical records such as medications, appointments and some test results online.