Some hospital patients will soon have the option of receiving acute care at home as B.C. launches a new $42-million "hospital at home" program to relieve pressure on bricks-and-mortar facilities as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
The program is expected to treat mainly elderly patients who require hospitalization to recover from episodes related to exacerbation of a chronic illness, such as chronic heart failure, lung disease or pneumonia, or illnesses that require short-term medical intervention, such as intravenous antibiotics or oxygen, according to information provided by the provincial Ministry of Health.
The patients will be admitted to hospital, but will remain at home, where they will receive daily in-person care from a team led by a doctor or nurse practitioner with admitting privileges, supplemented with virtual care.
But B.C. nurses have more questions than answers about the program, which will be rolled out with nine beds through Victoria General Hospital this fall, followed quickly by a similar prototype at University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, before being scaled up across the province this winter.
"I'm very disappointed not to have received more information," said Christine Sorensen, president of the B.C. Nurses' Union.
The union was briefed about the province's fall pandemic plan at 10 a.m. on Wednesday before the plan was revealed to the public at 1 p.m.
"That was the first the BCNU heard of the 'hospital at home' program," she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Sorensen had very little additional information to convey to her members.
"We don't know what criteria people need to meet to receive services in their home or who will be delivering the care," she said.
Acute care nurses, who work in hospitals, are already "stretched thin," as are community nurses, while the province is in the midst of a nursing shortage.
"They're talking about some kind of hybrid model between hospital and home, but it's not clear who will deliver that," she said.
The program was announced by Premier John Horgan on Wednesday, who said it would reduce pressure on hospitals as the province heads into flu season amid a global pandemic.
"For many patients, especially the elderly, this means that they will be able to avoid complications that oftentimes emerge in our acute-care facilities," he said.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said the program will be modelled on others that have been successful around the world.
"Through hospital at home, admitted patients who meet the criteria will be offered 24/7 care at home, rather than staying in a hospital, but will remain under the direct care of a hospital," he said.
Ministry of Health information provided to Postmedia said the Australian state of Victoria has been running a hospital at home program with about 500 hospital beds.
The statement emphasized that patients would receive a choice, and the program would initially focus on medical beds, not surgery or maternity services.
"The acuity of the condition managed (such as sepsis or pulmonary embolism) differentiates hospital at home from other existing in-home services," it said.
