The Josep Trueta Hospital in Girona has launched the home hospitalization unit, comparable to conventional admission. It is estimated that the new service could serve more than 1,200 patients a year.
The unit allows patients to receive specialized care comparable to what they would receive in a hospital, but in a more comfortable space for them such as their home. Furthermore, the implementation of this space will allow Trueta to “optimize space and healthcare resources”, according to the hospital center in a press release.
Home hospitalization is a care modality in which health professionals from the hospital provide treatment to the patient at home. It represents, they say, “a real, sustainable and satisfactory alternative for the patient.”
People over 18 years of age from the Emergency Department who require hospital admission, who are clinically stable and who have a caregiver at home most of the day, may benefit from this type of care.
In all cases, the domicile must be located in the area of ??influence of the Trueta Hospital, which covers the basic health areas of Girona, Sarrià de Ter, Celrà and the region of Pla de l’Estany, with a maximum distance between hospital and home 30 minutes.
The unit will depend on the Emergency Service and will be made up of personnel with a multidisciplinary profile. Includes medicine, nursing, administration and hospital pharmacy staff. All of them will maintain close collaboration with other hospital specialties. Inpatient patients will receive care coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Regarding care functioning, at the time of admission a program of medical and nursing visits will be established according to the patient’s pathology, which may be modified depending on their evolution. Both the patient and the caregiver will have a specific telephone number for questions, doubts or incidents.
In 2022, Trueta Hospital treated 78,244 patients in the Emergency Department, of which 14% were admitted.
