PICTURED ABOVE: Matt Page, Laureen Hines and Philip Darbyshire at the HITH Society Annual Scientific Meeting.
Innovations in the delivery of acute care at home will be showcased at the 11th HITH Society Annual Scientific Meeting kicking off in Brisbane today.
With the theme LEARN: Lead, Engage, Aspire, Research, Negotiate, the conference looks at the national and global context of hospital in the home (HITH) services, as well as staff wellbeing, leadership and development, the role of private health insurance, and research.
The two-day program includes presentations from a number of Queensland Health speakers including Adjunct Professor Shelley Nowlan, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, manager of the Clinical Excellence Division's hospital access team; Laureen Hines, and Philip Darbyshire.
Philip has published more than 80 refereed papers, books and chapters, and sits on several grants committees and journal editorial boards. He is an internationally recognised leader in nursing and healthcare research and service development. In his keynote, Philip will discuss the future of HITH. He had a chat with our editorial team - here's what he had to say:
"I've been in healthcare a long time and the changes are beyond dramatic. Services are desperately trying to change to keep up. People don't feel connected to their work, to patients, like we used to be. Doctors and nurses want to do something different which is one of the great benefits of HITH. You're the guest in their house."
Philip notes the work done in the Netherlands with Buurtzorg; a healthcare organisation established 12 years ago with a nurse-led model of holistic care that has revolutionised community care in that country. Evaluations of the Buurtzorg model have shown that by changing the model of care and empowering nurses to provide all the care a patient needs, they've reduced hours of care, improved quality of care, and raised work satisfaction. "Outcomes we'd die to see," Philip said.
Referring to his keynote address at the HITH Society Annual Scientific Meeting (The future of HITH - or is there one?) Philip said HITH has no hope so long as it continues to try and compete against hospitals. "We're so used to a particular way of working so we just keep replicating it, but they'll recreate all the same mistakes."
"HITH is wonderful. We don't need much more evidence to say that it's safe, we know that. The question is how to get it done, what does it look like?" Philip refers to the power of social movement and proper consultation as the answer. "People will no longer accept 'you live here, you can go to hospitals a, b, c or d'. They're demanding something different and we need to give it to them."
We need to change how we view change. Change our systems, tap into patients and families, and get everyone on board. We need to do things completely differently, and when you do that, things get really exciting."
The Clinical Excellence Division is currently collaborating with HITH services across Queensland to optimise and enhance HITH service delivery across the state. This includes ways to improve HITH promotion, explore model of care expansion, and better utilise technology. The working group met again yesterday to further progress this agenda.
To find out more about the HITH project please contact us. Discover more ways we are working to improve service delivery in Queensland or read more news.
To keep up to date with other news from the Clinical Excellence Division subscribe to our mailing list or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
