Where is the HITH Service Based
The HITH service is based around dedicated Nursing teams attached to each Hospital. The teams themselves will be physically based at an Assessment centre and supported by the medical team as outlined on page 4 of this document. Each of the teams coordinators are attached to the hospital they are serving. The assessment centre is only used in the diagnostic appraisal of patients referred into the programme by general practitioners. Patients referred into the service by the Hospitals will not be processed at this centre as their diagnostic tests will be carried out at the referring hospital.
How does HITH service operate?
Patients may be admitted into HITH via 3 different routes:
- Emergency Department.
- From the Hospitals inpatient wards (early discharge).
- From their own home via the General Practitioners surgery.
In all situations the patient is seen by a member of the HITH team at least once a day (see flowchart on following page). If the patient requires other services, such as physiotherapy and phlebotomy these will also be provided. In some situations patients may be requested to come into hospital to receive a component of their treatment (specialist follow up / diagnostics).