The number of patients hospitalized at home increased by almost 20% in the first half of the year

In the first half of the year, almost 5,900 patients were hospitalized at home, up 19.5% compared to the same period last year, reducing the average length of stay and freeing up hospitals by 54,135 days of hospitalization.

The data was provided to Lusa by the coordinator of the National Programme for the implementation of home hospitalisation units in hospitals of the National Health Service, Delfim Rodrigues.

In the first six months of the year, 14,049 patients were examined (an increase of 8.7%), and 5,882 were hospitalized at home (an increase of 19.5%).

“Thanks to greater safety and quality, teams were able to reduce the average length of stay to 9.2 days, a 4.9% reduction,” and the number of days spent in hospital and saved in hospitals was 54,135, an increase of 14.5%, stressed Delfim Rodriguez.

Summing up the results of the program launched in 2018, which has already allowed 41,305 patients to be hospitalized at home (including the pilot phase), he said that it has shown “great consistency” in its development, mainly around three variables: access, quality and safety, effectiveness. In terms of access, “the number of patients seen and treated has increased,” and in terms of quality and safety, the expected mortality rate has decreased to 1.8%, as well as the infection rate and hospitalization compared to hospitalization.

“Efficiency means we treat more patients, with greater access, greater quality and safety, and at a lower cost to the NHS and therefore to the taxpayer,” he stressed. Delfim Rodriguez noted an increase in the number of patients admitted to hospital emergency departments with home hospitalisation who are referred directly to home care (19.1%). The number of home hospitalisations following external consultations is 36%, and more than 32% were admitted directly, without visiting the hospital, by referral from GPs and family doctors.

Patients are under constant monitoring and supervision (telemonitoring, telemedicine, telephone contact), and in case of a problem, the patient or family member can immediately contact the team. “In about 3,300 situations, doctors and nurses had to visit the patient at home after working hours,” which is an increase of 9%. The number of home visits by the team was 70,997, and personal contacts were 32,940.

According to Delfim Rodrigues, the number of beds for home hospitalization has also increased: “It’s as if we were building a 352-bed hospital from scratch,” which would require an investment of around 450 million euros, while in this model the investment is around 20 million euros.

All hospitals in the country have home hospitalisation units, with the exception of Braga and Beja, which are due to start operating in September, with the “main objective” being to be able to receive 50,000 patients at home by 2026 (around 5% of the total number of hospitalised patients).

About 90% of patients are candidates for this form of treatment, “with lower costs, higher quality, greater safety and greater accessibility because the hospital may not have a bed, but people, no matter the quality of the home, the quality of the bed, they always have a bed at home.”

Until the end of June, the efficiency level in relation to direct income and costs was 51.2%, about 9.5 million euros, a value that hospitals with autonomy and capacity can apply “in terms of investment at their own discretion”.

“The program has proven to be extremely successful thanks to the high technical and human qualities of all the professionals involved. It is the only SNS program that continuously consolidates ever higher levels of activity offering, facilitating the internal operations of hospitals in a particularly difficult period,” he concluded.