What is the Out of Hospital Care Program?
The Out of Hospital Care (OHC) Program offers improved opportunities to care for people at home after hospitalisation and to prevent avoidable hospital admissions.
Caring for people at home is well regarded by patients, their families and carers. This enables continuity of care and reduces the risk of hospitalisation, especially for people who are at risk of falls or infections. Care at home helps to take the pressure off public hospitals by freeing up beds, reducing demands on emergency departments, and containing treatment staffing costs.
The role of the OHC Program is to support patients who are discharged from NSW public hospitals and to minimise preventable admissions for people living in the community. This is achieved by delivering short and medium term packages of non-clinical care to eligible patients across the state. It is anticipated that up to 35,000 Out of Hospital Care packages will be delivered to patients across NSW each year. These services are critical as research shows that patients and their families or carers can face major barriers to accessing care in the community including long waiting times for services.
Out of Hospital Care Packages
Out of Hospital Care packages deliver low to medium levels of care which include non-clinical case management and home care services such as personal care, domestic assistance, meals, transport, respite and social support. Patients can seamlessly transition between the three package types if their care needs change without any disruption to their services.
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ComPacks |
ComPacks are available to in-patients of participating NSW public hospitals who require short-term coordinated home care services, to return home safely. ComPacks are available for up to 6 weeks post discharge from hospital and do not provide ongoing or intensive levels of care in the home.
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Download OHC Patient Brochure for ComPacks HERE |
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Safe and Supported at Home (SASH) & SASH Palliative Support |
The Safe and Supported at Home or SASH Packages are available for people who are accessing LHD community health or out-patient services. They are also available for patients being discharged from hospital who may be at risk of an avoidable admission. The role of the SASH package is to support patients with functional impairment/s who are in the process of applying for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) or have been deemed ineligible for this scheme. The clients accessing SASH that are Palliative would be defined as those with a formally diagnosed life limiting condition or illness with a prognosis of greater than 3 months left to live. A person with a prognosis of less than 3 months to live would be eligible for End of Life (EoL) packages.
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Download OHC Patient Brochure for SASH HERE |
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End of Life (EoL) |
End of Life Packages support patients with a progressive life limiting illness or condition. The packages are designed for patients who are in the deteriorating or terminal phase of their illness or condition, require assistance with daily living tasks and wish to die in their own home or to remain at home for as long as possible. The package can also support family members or carers. Referrals can be made from the in-patient or out-patient settings and from LHD community-based teams, including (but not limited to) Specialist Palliative Care, Community Nursing, Chronic Disease and Aged Care Assessment Teams.
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Download OHC Patient Brochure for Palliative Care HERE |
When to Choose Out of Hospital Care
An Out of Hospital Care program is appropriate to refer to when:
- A patient requires immediate access to case management and home care for a safe discharge home and/ or to prevent an admission or readmission to hospital;
- Services are not in place or cannot be immediately accessed through other programs; or
- No informal support options such as family or friends are available for the patient.
For more information about Your Side’s OHC Program contact:
Tracey Compton – Intake Coordinator, Out of Hospital Care Program
Fax: (02) 8415 8939
DOWNLOAD OHC ELECTRONIC REFERRAL FORM HERE
Information can be typed directly into this form, saved and emailed to: intake.ohc@yourside.org.au
DOWNLOAD OHC FAX REFERRAL FORM HERE
To be printed, manually filled out and faxed to (02) 8415 8939
PLEASE NOTE: Referrals for the Out of Hospital Care Program can only come via Health Professionals.
