Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomies by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!

In the last blog I answered a question from one of our readers of our blog and the question last week was

IS IT APPROPRIATE TO DISCHARGE VENTILATED PATIENTS FROM ICU/PICU TO HOME?

You can check out last week’s episode by clicking on the link here.

In this week’s blog I want to look at the bigger picture when it comes to (Intensive) home care vs hospital care and look at some of the issues that prevent more people going home from Intensive Care rather than being stuck in Hospitals.

INTENSIVE CARE AT Home before hospital, does it need to be legislated as a right for Patients?

One of the biggest issues preventing more and more Patients from receiving care and treatment at home instead of receiving care and treatment in a hospital whenever appropriate is that it’s not a right for Patients and their families yet.

Why is this important?

In spite of overcrowded public and private hospitals, overcrowded emergency departments and overcrowded Intensive Care Unit, current legislation is not helping the status quo and current legislation is not helping an already stretched system and their most important people, the Patients and their families!

Where to from here and what have other countries learned to effectively manage ongoing high demand for hospital and ICU beds?

Take for example, Germany the first country worldwide that embraced INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME services on a large scale since the late 1990’s.

One of the main driving forces to empty hospital and ICU beds was to realize that Hospital and ICU care is financially not sustainable in the long term and also that Patients and families didn’t want to be there.

Quality of life and /or quality of end of life can only be achieved at home and not in a hospital, period.

The economic realities of being able to slash the cost of an ICU bed by 50% in a home care environment whilst achieving similar or better outcomes is something that can’t be ignored.

In Europe in order to provide this win-win situation and solution where all stakeholders benefit, the government was supporting this massive shift to hospital in the home and intensive care at home by legislating patients and families rights to have a choice.

Similar legislation need to be supported by the government in Australia also.

It creates a win-win situation.

It helps managing limited and stretched resources in intensive care and it helps long-term ventilated Patients and their families getting what they want! The cost savings are in the hundreds millions of dollars every year!

Look at family and patient satisfaction also.

Whenever long-term ventilated Patients with tracheostomies can leave intensive care, patients and families can return back to some sort of normality rather than spending day and night in intensive care!

By having intensive care services and intensive care nurses coming into the home 24/7 it creates a genuine alternative to a long-term stay in intensive care.

The state and federal governments need to recognize this massive opportunity and they need to start embracing the benefits that intensive care at home creates for all stakeholders.

INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and Hospital in the home needs to be legislated as a right for Patients and their families!

Kind Regards

Patrik Hutzel

Critical Care Nurse consultant

Director

INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME

If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care including palliative care or Long-term acute care (also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator, if you want to know how to get funding for our service or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.

Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230

USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090

UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018

Also, check out our careers section here

www.intensivecareathome.com/careers

We are currently hiring ICU/PICU nurses for clients in the Melbourne metropolitan area, northern suburbs, Mornington Peninsula and in South Gippsland/Victoria.

We are an NDIS, TAC (Victoria) and DVA (Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.

Also, have a look at our range of full service provisions here

https://intensivecareathome.com/services

We have also been part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program for innovative health care companies last year!

https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator

https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/

Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!