Āhuru Mōwai offers hospital-level care at home

The Āhuru Mōwai Hospital in the Home team are set to go with a new acute clinical service that delivers expert care to selected patients in their homes. Pictured are Ayumi Sato (left), Jane Wilkie, Tori Mackle, Erik McClain, Katrina Potter and Avon McKay.

Select patients at Gisborne Hospital are now able to receive treatment at home under medical supervision.

Project manager Tori Mackle says Āhuru Mōwai Hospital in the Home (HitH) is an acute clinical service that takes staff, equipment, technologies, medication and skills that are provided in hospital, and delivers that care to selected patients at home.

Transferred patients will receive acute specialist care that includes a daily review by a nurse and a virtual medical consultation.

Suitable patients include those with manageable heart failure, respiratory conditions or infections.

Patients will be assessed as clinically safe for referral by a medical team and a co-ordinator will meet with the patient and whānau to explain the service and gain consent, Mackle said in a statement.

“The service provides patients and whānau with a choice about how they receive their hospital care.

“Some people may prefer to stay in hospital, but this is now an option we can offer some people who might prefer to go home.”

It allows them to recuperate in the comfort of their own bed, have more privacy, and maintain their routines and independence, with less chance of picking up HAI (hospital acquired infections). Family are able to visit at any time.

The model is well established in Australia and Counties Manukau. A 2009 independent review found the HitH model consistently demonstrated desirable outcomes including reduced length of stay, fewer complications like infection and delirium, as well as improved patient and carer satisfaction.

Three nurses have been recruited to the service and Āhuru Mōwai aims to be ready to support its first patients by Monday.

Physician Eric McCain is the clinical lead and Jane Wilkie has been seconded to the role of service co-ordinator.

Real-time feedback will be a strong focus of Āhuru Mōwai, allowing the team to learn, evaluate processes and continuously adapt and improve.

Mackle said the HitH project team had gathered information from local whānau and would “continue to listen to the voice of the Tairāwhiti community” to establish what success looks like for such a service in the region.

“The project is an investment for Te Tairāwhiti community benefit, and how the service is delivered will be shaped by the people within it.”

Āhuru Mōwai will begin with a small number of patients who live in the city, but is building the foundations to enable access to acute specialist care in more remote areas.

The name Āhuru Mōwai was gifted to the new service by Hauora Tairāwhiti cultural adviser Owen Lloyd.

It implies a calm, nurturing space with a mutual respect between parties, and a place for care to be delivered and shared for healing and recovery.