Growth of Hospital at Home across Scotland
Hospital at Home provides short-term hospital level care in a person's own home. It provides person-centred care while reducing pressure on hospitals. We have been working with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) and NHS boards to expand Hospital at Home across Scotland. 21 HSCPs are covered by Hospital at Home, three times more HSCPs than in 2020.
Our Hospital at Home programme supports HSCPs and NHS boards to expand existing services. We also support the development of new services in remote and rural areas. This has led to a 53% increase in the number of people accessing hospital at home and avoiding time in hospital compared to 2021/22.
New services have recently launched in Caithness and Skye in NHS Highlands and in NHS Borders. A patient from the new NHS Highlands service in Skye has said:
"I was delighted, it was unbelievable…
...it was totally different to being in hospital.
...it’s the personal between the two of us, I wasn’t just a number. It makes a difference."
11,686 people benefited from Hospital at Home in 2022/23. This is a similar scale to the number of emergency inpatients aged 65 and over admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, in 2021/22. Download our latest Hospital at Home progress update to learn more about the growth of Hospital at Home across Scotland.
We are continuing to support NHS boards and HSCPs to set up new Hospital at Home services and expand existing services. We are also supporting services access £3.6 million of funding from Scottish Government to continue to expand Hospital at Home. NHS boards and HSCPs can visit our Hospital at Home page to find out more about joining the programme and accessing funding.