(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Around 1,000 elderly patients and 70 children are under the care of Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) Homecare Service.
The service is a mode of delivering care to patients who do not require acute care, such as those suffering from bed sores, outside hospital.
"This mode of care helps ease pressure on the busy emergency departments and reduce the number of hospital admissions," says Dr Essa Mubarak Al Sulaiti, the newly-appointed First Medical Director, Homecare Service.
He has started work on a comprehensive plan to improve services provided to patients at home. The plan aims to hire Qatari physicians and increase the number of doctors serving in various specialities, including general and geriatric medicine, to meet demand of increasing number of patients requiring homecare service.
The Homecare Service Department has four physicians specialised in general and geriatric medicine and one paediatrician.
Dr Al Sulaiti, who has served as consultant in Homecare Service since 2003, said it was initially based on nursing care with doctors providing support to follow up on cases.
Now doctors contribute to the development of homecare policies and decision-making, which has enhanced the quality of care and patient services.
"Each patient under our service is visited at home once a month by a team of three to five professionals, including a nurse, a physician, a dietician and a physiotherapist, if needed.
"Normally, the visit lasts between 45 minutes and one hour for stable patients," he said, adding the patient's schedule can be changed by increasing the number of visits if required.
"During the visit, required clinical examinations and a comprehensive review of the patient's medications are done. Patients are provided with necessary vaccinations. The team also requires one of the family members to be present during the visit to ensure proper communication about the patient."
Homecare service is available daily from 7am to 3pm for patients aged 60 and above and children with chronic diseases and disabilities.
"Homecare Service has witnessed tremendous developments as we strive to provide services in accordance with the highest international standards. This has enabled us to achieve Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation in 2009 and 2012, and we are working on delivering more improvements to patient care services to achieve our third JCI accreditation this year," Dr Al Sulaiti said.
He praised cooperation between the service and mobile doctors, comprising about 50 consultants led by the Ambulance Service team, for the improvements in Homecare Service last year.
"This cooperation has ensured the delivery of rapid care by Ambulance Service physicians to our patients in need of urgent care at their homes and reduced the number of hospital admissions," he added.
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