Case study - consultant
What made you decide to start referring patients to Healthcare at Home?
I could see that it was good for patients to have the option of having their treatment at home. Having their treatment in hospital means they see a lot of sadness, sickness and baldness. To offer them privacy and dignity is very valuable and I think there’s a ten fold improvement in quality, because it is so convenient for them. The Healthcare at Home nurses do all the legwork, and the patient feels that they have some control. A small percentage of patients fret about things like safety, but we explain that it is just as safe for them to have treatment at home as it is in the hospital, plus they receive one to one care.
What benefits do you think the Healthcare at Home service has for patients?
There are lots of benefits. It gives them control and individualises their treatment. They can have treatment at work or even on holiday if necessary, it’s bespoke and fits in with their lifestyle. As an example, I currently have a patient who is from Glasgow, but she’s staying with her mum here in Middlesbrough and is having her chemo treatment while she is down here. When that has finished, she is going back to Glasgow and will then have Herceptin at home, again being treated by a Healthcare at Home nurse.
Can you think of any success stories that you would like to share with us?
We have mini triumphs all the time. If someone is in pain or immobile for example, we work together to help them. One patient I saw was really very ill, but thanks to Healthcare at Home treating him at home, instead of him having to come into hospital when he was so ill, he lived to do things that he’d always wanted to do. Patients have important things to do and we enable treatment to fit in with this, giving them control and knowledge and helping them to get on with living their lives.
One patient that really stands out is a lady who had always wanted to go on a cruise on the QE2. She was worried about going, as it would have meant delaying her Herceptin treatment. Healthcare at Home made special arrangements with the ship’s doctor for her to have her treatment on board and arranged for her medication to be delivered to the ship so that everything the doctor needed was there. She had a wonderful time without any concerns about delaying or disrupting her treatment.
Would you recommend Healthcare at Home to other consultants? Particularly those who have never tried homecare?
Yes I would. I would really recommend their approach, as it is quality with good management built in. A homecare service cannot be fragmented and Healthcare at Home has always offered continuity of care, excellent consultant liaison and an on-call service so that they can be reached at any time. Having tried the alternative, I would never go back, as Healthcare at Home is the better company and provides that extra level of backup.
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