hospital in the home

Known as HITH, or sometimes just HIH, this is a system for the treatment of patients in their own homes rather than in hospital.  It has been developing over the last decade and is shown to be safe and effective for a range of illnesses, such as diabetes, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis, and recovery from various operations.  For the patients there are many benefits: the comfort of their own home with less stress and less disruptions, particularly of sleep, the food they like rather than the food the hospital provides, the access that the family has, and the avoidance of the risk of picking up an infection at hospital.  With COVID it is increasingly the case that hospitals are shown to be dangerous places, best avoided if at all possible. 

 Hospital at home requires a range of services to support the patient, such as nursing care, allied health care and medical care, but is now considerably helped with the telehealth services available which enable monitoring of the patient at home.  The high level of care means that it is not much cheaper than having the patient in hospital but has all these other benefits.