Extra cash for Fife’s ‘Hospital At Home’ teams to get patients home quicker

Hospital at Home enables people to receive acute support treatments – such as an intravenous drip or oxygen supply – at home rather than in a hospital setting. It provides access to tests under the care of a consultant from a patients’ own home.

It also allowed approximately 45 patients each month to go home earlier from Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital.

Fife’s Hospital at Home service, operated by NHS Fife and the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, was started 12 years ago, making it one of the longer-established services of this type in Scotland.

A health spokesperson said: “It provides a similar level of care that you’d expect in a hospital, but in the comfort of a person’s own home or care home. The aim is to prevent acute hospital admission.”

Nationally, a report from Healthcare Improvement Scotland found that 14,467 patients used Hospital at Home in 2023 – up from 11,686 in the previous year.

It also found that an estimated £14.9 million was saved in traditional hospital admission costs.

The Kingdom received £18,000 to continue supporting and providing its services to three teams which cover Dunfermline and West Fife; Kirkcaldy and Levenmouth; and Glenrothes and North East Fife.

“It’s a short term, consultant led, targeted intervention and treats people who have a range of health conditions,” a spokesperson stated. “Patients can be referred by a range of professionals including their GP, Advanced Nurse Practitioners or the Scottish Ambulance Service.”