The NHS could save £1.2 billion through the free provision of home-based hospital care, according to the report Hospital care at home.
Home-based hospital care is increasingly regarded as a key solution to the NHS capacity problem, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown committing to provide free one-to-one care for all cancer patients and elderly people as a central plank of the Labour party’s election manifesto. Produced by Healthcare at Home and Dr Foster, the report claims that extending home-based healthcare in the following services to a wider group of patients could represent savings in England of:
• £180 m to £210 m for long-term and other selected ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• £217 m to £837 m for enhanced supported discharge.
• £46 m to £73 m for specialised cancer services (specifically, enabling chemotherapy at home).
• £160 m for end of life care.
• £540 m to £1.2 bn for the four services combined.
Charles Walsh, chairman of Healthcare at Home said: “For ever-increasing numbers of patients, hospital continues to be the default option for getting treatment. We should be asking ourselves, are they in hospital for the right reason? This report gives a conservative estimate of the many thousands of patients who could benefit from being treated at home, at a lesser cost to the NHS and at greater convenience and satisfaction to the patient.
