The Hospital at Home program at Cowichan District Hospital (CDH) has been expanded and Island Health says patients enrolled in the program will benefit from receiving medical care at home.
According to the province, the Hospital at Home (HaH) program is funded to provide an extra 10 beds, but patients have to be medically and geographically eligible for a program which is completely voluntary.
Cowichan Valley executive medical director and Cowichan District Hospital physician Maki Ikemura says having patients recovering in their home environment isn’t going to affect how medical care is delivered, and patients will still have access to the services they need.
“We want to be able to provide acute level medical care to patients, with all the safety nets that come with it,” she says. “They’ll get nursing visits during the day, depending on the need, they can get IV antibiotics, blood tests done, and other tests done.”
On top of the daily visits from doctors, Ikemura says patients will continue to be treated with admitted status if their condition worsens, or they need access to specialist and advanced care.
“If they (patients) have a condition that needs to be rechecked, they can come back to the hospital without having to go through the emergency room,” she says. “This is really like being in hospital, but comfortable because you’re at home.”
Photo credit: Justin Baumgardner, VistaRadio
She adds, this program not only helps patients recover quickly because they’re in a known environment, but HaH will also help boost healthcare for anyone who may urgently need a bed or care.
“This means there is also more space in hospital for patients who need the bed,” Ikemura says. “This is a win-win for the patients, staff and for the system.”
Before the expansion, CDH had a limited number of beds for care, but Ikemura says that the expansion will free up more beds and now people are receiving safe, timely acute care in their own homes.
“Our hospital has 148 beds for acute medical care, with this expansion that means we have 10 beds that are virtual,” she says. “Now we have a capacity of 158 beds, with ten of them in people’s homes.
“This means we have resources to support the hospital at home environment, which means we have more pharmacy, dietician and nursing support.”
The HaH program was launched in 2020 at Victoria General Hospital and expanded to Royal Jubilee Hospital in 2021 and according to the province has been able to save over 19,775 bed days.
The project is expected to keep expanding, but no time frame has been given.
