Seha, the Abu Dhabi Health Authority, has stepped up its campaign to offer healthcare service provision to outpatients at home in Abu Dhabi.

During the summer season, Seha will be visiting the patients at their homes in the cities of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western region. These visits are part of Al Bir Wal Ehsan campaign that was launched by Seha, and will include routine checkups and providing a slew of home healthcare services.

Seha hospitals, including Tawam and SKMC, currently offer dedicated homecare departments.

At last count, Tawam has 724 outpatients registered for homecare, while SKMC offers homecare to 534. In 2009, Tawam hospital had conducted a total of 13,238 home patient visits, while SKMC had made 10,329 calls. In 2010, the hospitals had conducted 13,656 and 10,124 visits respectively.

“Tawam has a dedicated team of a specialist general practitioner, sixteen nurses and a nursing manager dedicated to providing outpatient care at home,” said Wayne Remig, chief nursing officer, Tawam Hospital.

“We offer home health services to patients who are unable to attend for regular outpatient appointments, encompassing any care that is medically reasonable and necessary, and requires skilled medical and nursing intervention.”

Dr Ali Akhtar, director Home Care Services, SKMC, said: “We have a diverse group of elderly patients which includes adults with chronic conditions like stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Our multidisciplinary home care team includes physicians, nurses, occupational therapist, respiratory therapist, and dietician and offer high quality of care for patients within their residences, particularly when their care needs can be met on an intermittent basis.”

“We provide PEG (gastrostomy) and artificial feeding care, wound care, anticoagulation care (INR), respiratory and ventilator care, rehabilitation care and support. Not only is this highly convenient for patients, but also ensures that hospital infrastructure is left available for acute care cases as opposed to chronic stable ones,” he added.

For both SKMC and Tawam, the largest category of patients is those scheduled for monthly visits. The next most common categories are once every two weeks and once every six weeks.

Seha has also announced a community outreach programme for Western Region of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

“Seha has started visiting patients in Zayed City, The Port and Delma Island as part of a community outreach programme intended to inform, educate and prevent health complications,” said Mohammed Al Farkh, operations manager, Western Medical Region, Seha.

Khalifa Al Katbi, deputy director of Operations, Seha, said:  “Our home care programme is part of our ongoing efforts to bring world class healthcare, comparable to the best in the world, to Abu Dhabi.”

“Through those regular visits and with Seha’s facilities, we aim at gaining the trust of our patients, increasing the communication with them, following up closely on their health conditions and listening to their requests and suggestions,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service