Home care for Covid patients

Not every Covid patient ends up in hospital, or in intensive care.

Many are cared for within their own homes, and Bass Coast Health has increased the capacity of its Hospital in the Home (HITH) program in preparation for an anticipated rise in Covid cases.

CEO Jan Child said Hospital in the Home services had been ramped up, to provide a proactive response for Covid patients that need support.

“We’ve taken nurses from other areas and put them into the Covid response HITH team, and that will be expanded in the coming weeks,” she said.

Ms Child said they were following the lead of colleagues at hospitals in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, one of the hardest hit areas in the current outbreak.

“They’ve had a significant number of patients who they’ve had to support at home. It’s been a really important part of their response and we are learning from their experiences. We’ve purchased oxygen monitoring devices, so if Covid is impacting on a patient’s oxygen levels we can monitor that remotely.

“If oxygen levels are a concern, we can go out, assess and bring the patient in if necessary.”

Currently Covid patients at home are being monitored through regular visits.

Ms Child said Covid had provided a silver lining for the organisation.

“We are trying to embrace the positives that come out of this. Covid has pushed a whole lot of stuff through. It pushed us to create additional ED capacity, it pushed us to establish home monitoring.

“It has revolutionised health care locally, so we can be as responsive as we can.”