Seriously ill patients are treated at home instead of hospitals
SERIOUSLY ill elderly patients are being treated at home as part of a drive to cut the number admitted to hospital.
‘Admission avoidance’ schemes can see frail old folk with conditions such as cancer, sepsis, pneumonia, infections and heart failure cared for in their own bed or armchair.
Those in favour of the initiative say people eat and sleep better at home and avoid hospital-acquired infections.
However, campaigners said the Acute Care at Home scheme raises safety questions. Staff include support workers with only basic clinical skills, in contrast to a similar English scheme which employs senior nurses.
Professor Jamie Weir, a former NHS Grampian board member and retired professor of radiology at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said: ‘I question treatment at home unless there is an exceptional care package, with clinicians who know what they are doing.
‘Patients on their own with relatives, if they are elderly with potentially serious conditions, is a disaster.
‘I have grave doubts about this approach and I think this is another ploy by managers to fudge around the issue that we don’t have enough clinicians to look after the patients we have.’
Acute Care at Home is run by Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP), which plans and delivers health and social care for the local authority and health board.
Its website says: ‘A member of the team will carry out an initial clinical assessment which includes blood samples, blood pressure, temperature, pulse and urine sample as well as other tests and can also arrange for X-rays to be taken.
‘The team will either treat the person in their own home during the acute phase of illness or, if necessary, admit to hospital.’
The 12-strong team includes two geriatricians and five senior health care support workers.
Support workers can perform basic tasks such as inserting a cannula tube. They are directed by clinicians.
Professor Weir, spokesman for campaign group Patient Action Co-ordination Team, said: ‘There are instances where schemes like this can work very well, provided the care package is properly staffed.
‘Treating acute patients at home will only work if there’s sufficient staff – and at the moment there’s insufficient staff in hospitals, let alone the community.’
A spokesman for ACHSCP said: ‘This new and developing service is testing the ACHSCP’s aim of helping people stay at home, supported by appropriate professionals, to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital and improve patient outcomes.’
He said the model was being adopted throughout the UK to avoid long hospital stays which could lead to acquired infection and loss of confidence, function and social networks in elderly patients.