A hospice home care program has many benefits for the patient and family.
1 A hospice home care program gives the patient the choice to be at home even until death. This is only possible if palliative care is available at home. The hospice home care team are trained to deal with most of the problems which may arise. This gives the patient and family the assurance that help is available 24 hours a day.
2 Home care is less expensive for the patient. There are of course hidden costs when a patient is being cared for at home. Family members may need to give up work in order to give the care. The additional bed linen will need to be purchased and laundered. Dressings may be expensive. In some cases equipment such as oxygen cylinders must to be hired. However, unless the patient's hospital expenses are covered by insurance, home care costs are usually cheaper than hospital bed charges.
3 If home care is available, patients with advanced disease are discharged earlier and are less likely to be readmitted if their condition deteriorates. This means that more hospital beds are made available for acute cases requiring investigations and treatment. When patients with advanced disease are readmitted to hospital, unnecessary investigations such as blood tests and x-rays are often routinely carried out at the time of admission. These investigations
