MORE THAN 50,000 acute hospital bed days could be saved annually across the State if an innovative way of treating heart failure adopted by Dublin's St Vincent's hospital was extended nationwide, it has been claimed.
The hospital's heart failure unit, which yesterday celebrated its 10th anniversary, has a programme in place to monitor some at-risk patients in their own homes, has a rapid access clinic to pick up and treat symptoms quickly and administers some intravenous therapies in outpatients, reducing the need for patients to be admitted to hospital.
Prof Ken McDonald, who heads the unit, said the initiative had reduced hospital admissions at St Vincent's by almost 4,000 per year.
"While the major benefit of this is reflected in improved quality of life it also has an obvious impact on use of hospital bed days, saving approximately 4,000 a year, the equivalent of protecting 12 beds in this hospital on a day-by-day basis.
"If these results were translated nationally 150 beds would be put back into the system," he said.
He added that the changes had been achieved through restructuring of the way things were done, not as a result of employing enormous numbers of extra staff or through major capital investment.
Minister for Health Mary Harney, who attended the anniversary celebrations, said she was a strong fan of community and primary care initiatives that kept people out of hospital. She added that while it saved money - with accommodation in an acute hospital bed costing €350,000 a year - it was also known a hospital was "not a safe environment for anybody to be in" unless they needed to be there.
She said she hoped the St Vincent's template could be used elsewhere. A similar programme was already being rolled out in the west, she indicated.