New report finds Scotland’s Hospital at Home services going from strength to strength
Hospital at Home services across Scotland have saved more than £50 million in healthcare costs and prevented around 15,500 people having to stay in hospital for treatment in the last year.
That’s according to figures in a report published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland – the organisation responsible for supporting the national Hospital at Home programme.
The report shows in 2024-25:
- Around £16 million saved as Hospital at Home admissions in most cases cost less than hospital admissions
- An estimated £39 million saved due to reduced healthcare usage in the six months following hospital at home discharge
- Hospital at Home prevented 15,470 people spending time in hospital
- More than 1,600 patients were treated on average each month – up from 1,400 on the previous year
Belinda Robertson, Associate Director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:
More than 650 extra hospital beds and almost 500 care home admissions would have been required over the year if hospital at home services did not exist
“It seems that Hospital at Home is very much here to stay. We are finding that more NHS boards are not just increasing the numbers receiving acute hospital care at home, but that their services are maturing, becoming more efficient and being set up in such a way as to ensure they are sustainable.
For patients, the benefits of being able to be treated in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes is clear to see and this is set to continue.”
Associate Director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Keeping patients in their own homes means they can stay in familiar surroundings without the need to separate them from family and friends.
Bill Denholm (85) from Stenhousemuir was recently treated by NHS Forth Valley’s Hospital at Home team. His wife Marion (82) said:
“We’ve had doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a dietitian and a speech and language therapist all visit our home to provide the care and treatment Bill required so he didn’t have to go into hospital.
“This meant he was able to stay in familiar surroundings with his family and still receive the same type of care he would have in hospital.
“I can’t praise the Hospital at Home service enough. It makes so much more sense to treat people in their own homes if you can rather than occupy a bed in a busy hospital.”
First Minister John Swinney recently announced funding of £85 million which will allow 2,000 beds across Scotland to be made available through the Hospital at Home service.
Read the Hospital at Home Annual Report.