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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomy 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 shared
You can check out last week’s blog here.
In this week’s blog I want to share another public endorsement for more home health care instead of hospital care and in this week I want to share an article from the ABC
ABC reports, Home health care “cheaper and safer”!
In the article that also features an interview from people who are having Dialysis treatment at home instead of in a hospital, the pros and cons of home care are being discussed.
However the bottom line of the discussion is clearly leading towards improved Patient and family outcomes and Patient and family satisfaction, massive fiscal savings and the freeing up of beds and other resources in acute hospital settings!
The question is how long can Intensive Care Units afford to waste $5,000 per bed day for long-term ventilated adults& chilren with trachesotomies to be looked after in Intensive Care, instead of using specialised Intensive Home Care nursing services like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME?
You can read the original article below or you can check out out on the ABC website by following this link here
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2016/s4411990.htm
Home health care ‘cheaper and safer’
Lucy Carter reported this story on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 12:45:00
ELEANOR HALL: A new analysis of home health care in Australia has found that it’s often safer and cheaper to treat people in their own homes.
The study records a 20 per cent lower mortality rate, and a 25 per cent reduction in rates of re-admission to hospital.
But the researchers acknowledge that home care is likely to increase the care burden on patients’ family and friends, as Lucy Carter reports.
LUCY CARTER: Ted Atkinson had suffered from kidney disease for years, when prostate cancer surgery caused them to fail.
TED ATKINSON: And that just didn’t agree with my kidneys, and 18 months later I was on dialysis.
LUCY CARTER: The 77-year-old was originally treated at Blacktown Hospital’s renal unit, in Sydney’s west.
TED ATKINSON: They gave me an offer, would I like to train to do it at home? And I said, well yes, I would prefer to do that. And that’s what I did; and it was an eight-week training course at the Blacktown renal unit.
LUCY CARTER: For the last decade, Mr Atkinson has managed his own haemodialysis at home. He says it’s been life-changing.
TED ATKINSON: There’s nothing wrong with doing it in hospital. The problem is today is that all these renal units are so busy. And so you get a set time, you know, it might be seven in the morning or it might be ten o’clock and you’ve got no… there’s no way to manoeuvre it.
But by doing it at home, I’ve got the flexibility of being able to do… as long as I do the nominate time of three days, I can do it any day of the week I wish and I can do it any time in those days that I wish.
LUCY CARTER: Ted Atkinson says he and his wife Lois cope just fine.
TED ATKINSON: Just the two of us, and she helps me, she trained with me when I did it. So she assists me, but you know, I set the machine up, and I put the needles in my arm, and she looks after me, she keeps an eye on me that everything goes alright, and that there’s no problems.
LUCY CARTER: Mr Atkinson now works as an advocate for Kidney Health Australia, and says being treated at home is also significantly cheaper.
This mirrors new research from a team of medical professionals, including Western Sydney University nursing and midwifery lecturer Dr Evan Alexandrou.
EVAN ALEXANDROU: Essentially, for patients who are going on home-based dialysis, the owner cost-saving was between $23,000 and $38,000 per year compared to having dialysis in an outpatient clinic.
LUCY CARTER: The study from Western Sydney University’s Centre for Health Research indicates home health care has other significant benefits.
EVAN ALEXANDROU: Outside of a, you know, fiscal benefit, there are also benefits in terms of improved patient outcomes, reduction in mortality rates and overall patient satisfaction.
LUCY CARTER: But, Dr Alexandrou acknowledges it can increase the burden on friends and family.
EVAN ALEXANDROU: Potentially it can, and these are some of the areas that we need to discuss. I think if you’re a carer looking after a patient or looking after a loved one at home, the risk is, you know, in terms of isolation, in terms of the burden of you as a carer undertaking these types of clinical skills with no clinical background, you know, wanting to do the best for your loved one.
LUCY CARTER: Dr Alexandrou says while home healthcare can’t work for everyone, it can free up beds in hospitals for more critical patients, saving the hospitals money too.
He says government investment in community healthcare services is crucial to making this work.
EVAN ALEXANDROU: You know, you can go from local health district to local health district and there is a disparity in what community services are available.
So there needs to be some type of standardisation so that regardless of the area health service, you know, a patient is situated in, there is the ability for those patients to be discharged early and have those services provided at home.
LUCY CARTER: Kidney disease sufferer Ted Atkinson says he hopes politicians take note.
TED ATKINSON: Particularly in the country, that’s where they need assistance perhaps with transport, with training costs. Some people, you know, whilst we’re pretty fortunate in the city, but in the country is where they really need some real support financially to make it a lot easier for people.
I mean, all our equipment at home is supplied, which is a magnificent service. And that’s not insignificant in cost, and that’s all supplied to us. All I can say is we are very, very lucky in this country to have this facility available to us.
ELEANOR HALL: That’s dialysis patient Ted Atkinson ending that report from Lucy Carter.
What do you think? Do you think that Intensive Care Units can continue to waste $5,000 per bed day to look after long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies in Intensive Care instead of sending them home with specialised Intensive Home Care nursing services like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME?
Leave your comments on the blog.
For more information, you can contact me on 041 094 2230 or email [email protected]
We are also currently hiring enthusiastic and experienced Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for ventilated Clients in Melbourne.
We would also like to hear from you if you have a minimum of 2 years Paediatric ICU experience, as we have opportunities here as well!
For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers or contact Patrik on 041 094 2230 or simply hit reply to this email.
You can also contact me on 041 094 2230 if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.
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!