Australia falling behind on hospital care at home: CHA

The re-elected government should expand access to hospital-in-the-home care through introducing minimum insurance payments as Australia falls behind comparable nations, denying patients access to high-quality, affordable care.

Catholic Health Australia said today that five per cent of Australian patients are treated at home compared to 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and 10 per cent in Canada.

“Hospital-in-the-home care allows patients to stay in the comfort of their own homes for a range of treatments such as dialysis, chemotherapy and palliative care,” said CHA Director of Public Health Alex Lynch.

“For a range of treatments hospital in the home delivers high quality outcomes and is preferred by patients.

“Expanding hospital-in-the-home care would improve outcomes for patients while taking pressure off the health system as our population ages. We should have more care offered in the home in Australia, but unfortunately we are being held back by inconsistent funding arrangements by health insurers which limits access.”

Catholic Health Australia is calling on the returned government to extend default benefits, the minimum insurers must pay for a treatment, to hospital-in-the-home care.

“Catholic providers believe that patients and their doctors should make decisions about their care, not their insurer. The future of health care in this country must be centred on patient choice, quality, and compassion.”

Susan Homewood, 58, had Rehabilitation-in-the-Home with Cabrini in Melbourne’s southeast following total knee replacement surgery.

“Having rehab at home with Cabrini made such a difference physically and psychologically – I could recover in my own space with my family by my side.

“I believe my recovery was faster because I was navigating my usual daily tasks and focused on the future. I could also do my exercises with my physio Amber without the stress of travel time,” she said.

James Pollard, President of the Hospital in the Home Society Australasia, said expanding hospital-in-the-home care should be a priority for the next government.

“Hospital-in-the-home is crucial because it can rapidly scale up as our population ages, taking pressure off an overstretched public health system while delivering great outcomes for patients,” he said.

Polling commissioned by CHA showed that 82 per cent of Australians would consider hospital-in-the-home-care if it was offered by their private health funds.

Learn more about CHA’s election priorities and position papers