Treatment at Home

Medical advances have resulted in many patients being able to perform their nutrition therapies for themselves at home or with the support of family or a homecare nursing team.

Prior to discharge a care plan will have been agreed. This will include your training or nursing support.  Some patients will be trained in hospital; others will receive training in their own surroundings.  The remainder will stay with the home nursing team long term. However patients will see that care needs change according to their individual needs.

All this requires dedication and skill and there are no short cuts. The degree of support available to home-patients from hospitals varies considerably - some hospitals have only one patient, others have many. Our aim is to offer support to patients from people who truly understand - fellow patients. We endeavour to encourage patients to reach their own goals thus reaching a quality of life set by each individual. Being at home is where the majority of people want to be, which has the added bonus of freeing-up hospital beds.

Acceptance of the therapy and adaptation to life at home will vary from patient to patient.

Nobody is trying to pretend there aren’t problems - after all, up until a few years ago it would have been considered inconceivable to provide these therapies anywhere else but in a controlled hospital environment.

Most patients will feel very apprehensive once at home, and it may well take some time before an acceptable standard of living can be resumed. One of the major problems is that outwardly most patients look quite well, and therefore other people have no idea of the difficulties they face.  Also we need to bear in mind that each patient is an individual and have personal goals and aspirations.

Conversely, the patient is never free from reminders of their treatment and their whole life can begin to revolve around their therapy.

Hospital to Home
‘Going home’ is a complex procedure which has to be properly planned. There needs to be a structured and smooth transition from hospital to home care. The end point should be a confident patient, effectively managing their treatment to suit their lifestyle, with their clinician retaining full clinical control. Access to effective support mechanisms is an essential aspect of building and maintaining confidence.

In today’s NHS, home therapy patients are more and more frequently supported by specialist homecare companies. These are independent providers who (working in partnership with NHS Trusts) have built up considerable expertise in moving patients into the community who require complex, life-sustaining therapies.