Acute Hospital at Home

The contents of this leaflet will let you know what to expect from your time using the Acute Hospital at Home (AHAH) service.

What is AHAH?

AHAH aims to improve your experience of healthcare by delivering hospital treatments and tests in the comfort of your own home. The main principle of AHAH is to provide hospital level treatment to patients in their own homes.

The clinical team looking after you in hospital will talk to you about receiving your treatment at home, such as what treatments you will receive, how often and when.

We will be able to monitor the progress of your illness at home, but you may need to attend the hospital for further tests which cannot be done at home (eg x-rays and other scans).

What to expect from AHAH

First visit
Depending on whether you were admitted to AHAH from a hospital ward or straight from home, what happens during your first home visit might vary. If you came from hospital, it is likely that you will have already met a nurse and a doctor from the team. Therefore, a nurse will attend on your first visit and complete an assessment of your needs and brief assessment of your home environment (for safety purposes).

If you have been admitted to AHAH from an alternative route (such as your GP), a doctor and a nurse will attend the first visit. You will require a thorough assessment of your health, social and nursing needs. The team will also ensure you have a thorough understanding of the AHAH service. You may also need blood tests.

Subsequent visits
The visits from the nursing team may vary in length depending on what tests and treatments are needed. The frequency of the visits may also change during the admission to AHAH (ie you may be visited less as your condition improves). This will be communicated to you throughout.
We aim to send nurses that you have met before and who are familiar with your home. Although this is not always possible, our nurses will always have correct information about your treatment.

Nurses will provide your treatment, take your blood pressure and temperature. They may also need to take blood or other tests.
They will check your general wellbeing in order to report back to the rest of the team.

The AHAH team

During AHAH admission you have access to a range of hospital staff and services from Dorset County Hospital. These include:

• Nurses
• AHAH Doctors (junior and consultant)
• Specialist doctors (specific to your diagnosis)
• Rehabilitation support staff
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapist
• Equipment to help you manage at home
• Pharmacist and pharmacy services.

What else can the AHAH team do?

Our team will provide patient-centred treatment that includes how you are able to self-manage your health and practical tasks with or without support from family and friends. We can provide extra support if needed.

Whilst providing your treatment, we can discuss your general physical and emotional wellbeing and talk to other clinical teams on your behalf (with your permission).

We will ensure your family and friends feel supported to support you whilst you are unwell at home.

If required, we can support you to attend medical appointments at Dorset County Hospital by providing transport. We can also be present during appointments to ensure your voice is being heard.

What you can do to help

The AHAH team may only visit once a day and, therefore, we may rely on you to tell us how you are feeling, how you have been coping and any concerns you have had.

The AHAH team may ask to access your Wi-Fi in order to communicate effectively with Dorset County Hospital. If you consent to this, please share your password with them.

We also ask that you call AHAH if you have any questions or concerns. This will help any issues to get resolved promptly.

Contact numbers

We hope that you have found this information useful. If you have any questions or are worried about anything, please speak to the AHAH staff
between 7.30am and midnight seven days a week.

Tel: 01305 254944 or 07900 406672

If you have any medical concerns outside of these hours, you should contact NHS 111 or 999 as appropriate.

If your call is non-urgent, you can leave a message and we will respond on our return.

Our address
Acute Hospital at Home
Dorset County Hospital
Williams Avenue
Dorchester
Dorset DT1 2JY

About this leaflet

Author: Jack Gilham, Team Lead Nurse
Written: May 2023
Approved: July 2023
Review date: July 2026
Edition: v3

If you have feedback regarding the accuracy of the information contained in this leaflet, or if you would like a list of references used to develop this leaflet, please email patientinformation.leaflets@dchft.nhs.uk