About 1,400 patients across Qatar receive daily home healthcare services through visits to patients’ homes, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has said.
In a statement yesterday, HMC stressed that its Home Healthcare Service (HHCS) “is on a mission to expand the reach of its services to ensure that those in need have quick and easy access to high-quality care at home”.
“HHCS is a valuable service within HMC’s Continuing Care Group that strives to meet the standards and objectives set out in the National Continuing Care Strategy,” said Mahmoud al-Raisi, HMC’s chief of the Continuing Care Group.
He noted that HHCS is committed to providing quality healthcare aimed at keeping patients in their homes where they are most comfortable and secure. “Providing home care adult and paediatric services is an important element of fulfilling HMC’s vision of delivering the safest, most effective and most compassionate care to each and every one of our patients,” al-Raisi said. HHCS, which is based in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City, has satellite locations in Al Khor and Al Wakrah, helping serve the public in both communities and the surrounding areas. Plans are also under way to open another satellite office to provide services to those living in the Muaither and Al Rayyan areas.
HHCS provides daily home care to about 1,400 patients across Qatar in two shifts from Sunday to Thursday, 7am to 8pm. Weekend cover for intravenous care and wound dressings is also provided by the service, as well as 24-hour on-call cover for patients requiring mechanical ventilator support and support for critical medical equipment breakdowns, the statement noted.
“HHCS provides home care to Qatar residents of all ages, Qataris and expatriates, who are temporarily or permanently housebound. We support patients’ timely discharge from HMC hospitals and provide clinical care and medical supervision to ultimately reduce the need for visits to the Emergency Department or for hospital admission,” said Dr Essa al-Sulaiti, HHCS medical director.
Dr al-Sulaiti added that the service has seen “tremendous developments” since its official launch in 2009, noting that it continues to provide services in accordance with the highest international standards.
“The service achieved Joint Commission International accreditation in 2009 and again in 2012 and 2015, and we continue to embark on new programmes to deliver more improvements and clinical interventions to patient care services.”
According to Maqsood Ibrahim Adam, assistant executive director for the Continuing Care Group, the satellite offices provide a local base for patients and families. “This is part of our strategic healthcare practice, which aims to bring the service closer to our patients and the communities they live in, especially in densely populated areas,” he said.
HMC
