Western Trust launches service to help seniors at home

A 'hospital at home' service – referred to as Acute Care At Home – has been in place in the Northern sector of the Trust since 2014, with the service providing treatment by health care professionals in a person’s own home for a condition that would otherwise require acute hospital in-patient care.

The Acute Care At Home service provides triage, assessment and treatment where appropriate as an alternative to in-patient care specifically for those who are at risk of requiring admission to hospital.

The service's team also supports appropriate earlier discharge for those people who have required hospital admission.

Drawing on the success of the established service in the Northern sector, and with support from the medical team in the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH), pharmacy and the Rapid Response nursing team, a local Western Trust test of a similar 'hospital at home' pilot service was established on December 14 last.

This service test initially involves working with four care homes in Enniskillen, including Millcroft Care Home, The County Care Home, Meadow View Care Home and The Graan Abbey Nursing Home.

The aim is to assess and treat residents in these care homes, thus avoiding the need to attend the emergency department, and an admission to hospital.

Speaking about the success of the pilot project in the Western Trust area, Dr. Monica Monaghan, Western Trust Consultant Cardiologist, said: “I am delighted to be part of the launch of the Hospital At Home pilot initiative to transform the care of our patients, and to look at an alternative pathway for the treatment of acutely unwell patients.

"We recognise that we have an increasingly elderly population, and patients who remain in hospital for a particular long period of time are at increasing risk of hospital-acquired infections, and Covid-19.

"They are also out of their home environment, and are at risk of delirium and at risk of falls.”