NHS Forth Valley is expanding its Hospital at Home services, enabling more local people to receive safe, specialist, hospital-level care in their own homes.

The expansion will help reduce pressure on local hospital services, free up capacity across the local healthcare system and ensure more local people can access hospital-level care in familiar surroundings whenever it is safe and appropriate to do so.

The expanded service includes the:

• Development a new 10-bed respiratory virtual ward to support more patients with acute respiratory conditions at home. These include patients experiencing complications or flare-ups for a wide range of respiratory conditions including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), pneumonia, flu, RSV and acute asthma.
• Creation of five new OPAT (Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy) Hospital at Home beds to delivers intravenous or complex antimicrobial treatments to patients in the comfort of their homes or via outpatient clinics.
• Expansion of Hospital at Home capacity for older people from 25 to 30 beds.

This expansion supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to increase Hospital at Home and virtual ward capacity across Scotland, helping more patients access acute care at home while easing pressures on hospital services.

Hospital at Home provides short-term, targeted acute clinical care for people who would otherwise require hospital admission or who can be discharged earlier from hospital with ongoing specialist support delivered at home. Patients remain under the care of clinical teams and have access to monitoring, diagnostics, treatment and clinical review tailored to their individual needs.

The new Respiratory Hospital at Home virtual ward will provide dedicated capacity for patients with respiratory conditions who can be safely managed at home. Expanding Hospital at Home capacity for older people to 30 beds will support more frail, older people requiring acute care, while the additional OPAT beds will enable eligible patients to receive intravenous antimicrobial therapy at home, supported by an OPAT Specialist Nurse and the Older Adult Hospital at Home team.

By maximising existing resources and strengthening collaboration across respiratory, older adult and OPAT pathways, NHS Forth Valley is increasing its virtual bed capacity while maintaining a strong focus on safe, person-centred care and the effective use of hospital capacity.

Dr Sarah Henderson, Consultant Geriatrician with NHS Forth Valley’s Hospital at Home Service, said: “Our local Hospital at Home team do an amazing job to help ensure that patients, who in the past would have to be come into hospital, are able to remain in their own homes and access the specialist clinical care and support they require.

“This expansion will ensure more patients across Forth Valley are able to remain at home while still receiving the specialist clinical care and treatment they require.

“We know that many people recover better at home and the feedback we have received from previous patients and families has been overwhelmingly positive as they really appreciate being able to stay in familiar surroundings at home, close to their family, friends and pets.”

“Having extra capacity in the Hospital at Home service will not only avoid hospital admissions but also support discharge arrangements for patients who require follow up clinical care at home.”

The development of new respiratory and OPAT Hospital at Home services reflects the commitment, innovation and flexibility of local staff working collaboratively across services to ensure patients receive the care they need in the most appropriate setting. Increasing the Hospital at Home capacity for older people will also help meet growing demand while maintaining a focus on safe, high-quality care.