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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 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 shared
You can check out last week’s blog here!
In this week’s blog I want to share
Palliative care hospitalisations rising for Australians at end-of-life
I would consider it to be common knowledge that Australians and people in first world countries in general wanting to die at home if given the option. In fact surveys and research reveal that 75% of Australians and 75% of people in first world countries want to die at home and yet less than 15% actually do.
It therefore never ceases to amaze me that mainstream public and mainstream private health care is still only delivering a “one size fits all” health service delivery within the four walls of a hospital.
In a recent media release by the Australian Institute of health and welfare, new data has revealed that hospitalisations for palliative care are growing faster than all hospitalisations, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
That is interesting to note, especially if 75% of Australians want to die at home and yet less than 15% actually do die at home.
This leaves a big gap between what people want and what people actually get.
Again, all mainstream public and mainstream private health service are offering is a “one size fits all” approach to dying and they keep ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of Australians who as a matter of fact want to die at home.
You can read the media release from AIHW here
Some of the people dying in hospitals would require Intensive Care treatment and Intensive Care therapy. Some of the people dying in Intensive Care would also get a referral to palliative care at some point.
There are approximately 150,000 admissions into Intensive Care every year in Australia. 90-94% of those admissions leave Intensive Care alive, leaving approximately 6-10% of Patients dying in Intensive Care.
According to those statistics about 9,000-15,000 Patients die every year in Australian Intensive Care Units.
I have worked in Intensive Care in three different countries for nearly 20 years including my extensive experience in Intensive Home care.
I have also worked as a Nurse Unit Manager in Intensive for over 5 years in Australia and I have had a dollar for every family in Intensive Care who had a loved one dying in ICU who said “It would be so much nicer if we could take our loved one home to die…”
Again, Intensive Care Units only offer the “one size fits all” approach to dying in Intensive Care, without considering what health consumers and their families want!
Related article/video:
The good news is that INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME can provide palliative care at home, even when Patients are on life support such as mechanical ventilation.
We have already provided such services and you can read a case study here
Many Intensive Care Units still tell families in Intensive Care that palliative care at home can’t be done for Intensive Care Patients.
The truth of the matter is Intensive Care Units need to wake up to new realities and they need to embrace new and proven care models that are filling a huge gap in the market!
Kind Regards
Patrik Hutzel
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 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
www.intensivecareathome.com/careers
We are currently hiring ICU/PICU nurses for clients in Melbourne and in South Gippsland/Victoria.
We are an NDIS, TAC(Victoria) and DVA(Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.
We are also part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program
https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator
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!
Palliative care hospitalisations rising for Australians at end-of-life