There continues to be, in some countries, more demand for acute care hospital beds than there are beds. One way to decrease or avoid admissions to hospital is to provide people with acute care treatment at home.
Special services have been developed which provide people with hospital care in their homes. Typically, these people would require treatment in an acute care hospital for a period of time. Instead, a team of health care professionals, such as doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, provide them with their treatment while they are at home. Many times, if the service is available, people can avoid the hospital altogether and be referred by their family doctor to receive the service, or be referred after visiting the emergency room. The key is that if the hospital at home service was not available, then the patient would need to be admitted to an acute hospital ward.
A review of the effect of hospital at home services to avoid admission was conducted. After searching for all relevant studies, 10 studies were found. The evidence shows that when compared to in-hospital care, hospital at home services may reduce the chances of dying. However, later on, admissions to hospital may increase. Admission avoidance hospital at home may not reduce or improve quality of life, function, or cognitive abilities (such as mental alertness and thinking) more than in hospital care. And while it may improve satisfaction in people at home, it is not known how it affects the carers of the people at home. With respect to costs, hospital at home services may be less expensive than in hospital care.
From this review however, it is not known which people would most benefit from hospital at home services. Although in these studies, most people were on average 70 to 80 years old. It is also not clear how the current state of the health system in a country would modify the effect of a hospital at home service.