“When residents came to hospital, they had to be isolated in their rooms for 14 days, which was really traumatic for some of them, particularly dementia patients,” Dr Brown said. “We had one gentleman who needed a blood transfusion without needing to go to the ED to have blood tests and see doctors. It was a really good outcome.”
The program has to date received 200 call outs to aged care facilities, with numbers increasing every week.
A PROGRAM to help aged care residents avoid hospital stays was rolled out in the nick of time for coronavirus and has proven a roaring success.
The In-Reach program has been trialled by the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service in 12 aged care facilities from Gordonvale to Kewarra Beach since March, and has given the elderly a choice about where they receive their acute care, either in their home, or at a local hospital.
Dr Sarah Brown said In-Reach had eased patient distress during