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. 27 HSCPs either have a Hospital at Home service or are working with us to develop one.
We work with HSCPs and NHS boards to expand existing services or to develop new services. Between April and September 2023, Hospital at Home services have prevented over 7,000 people in Scotland from spending time in hospital. This is a 33% increase compared with the same time in 2022.
Patients and their families continue to experience the benefit of being treated at home rather than in hospital:
“It worked perfectly…wonderful people come in and give you the treatment you need but it’s in the comfort of your own home.” (H@H patient in Skye)
We are continuing to support services and Scottish Government have allocated an additional £3.6 million towards the growth of Hospital at Home. Services are meeting the needs of more people by:
- getting equipment that helps to reduce travel time
- holding remote consultations with patients which helps services to reach a wider group of people, and
- with staff training so that clinicians have more time.
You can read more about the progress of Hospital of Home services in our progress update.