Newcastle: Hospital in the Home

HNE Kids Health have been working hard to implement an exciting new service to help get kids home from hospital sooner. Hospital in the Home (HITH) for Chronic Respiratory Conditions (CRC), is a service aiming to reduce the amount of time children and young people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and other chronic respiratory conditions are spending in hospital by providing much needed care at home.

One of these children is Keyton who was diagnosed with CF as a baby. During her 11 years, she has had several admissions to John Hunter Children’s Hospital, often for up to two weeks at a time, receiving intravenous antibiotics and being reviewed by doctors and the allied health team, including her physiotherapist, Nicole.

In September, Keyton was the first patient to go home with the HITH CRC Service. While on the service, Keyton will be supported at home daily by her doctors, HITH nurses and physiotherapists, via home visits and telehealth appointments.

Now that Keyton is receiving care at home, her mum, Tammy, is happy to be relieved of some of the pressure and stress that comes with being in hospital. “I love that the HITH service gives us the opportunity to continue treatment from the comfort of our home and that it helps take the pressure off me as a parent,” she said.

The service is currently running as part of a project with John Hunter Children’s Hospital and is funded through partnerships with Curing Homesickness and Coles.