Taking care of our elderly is a huge problem for our society and it is really important that we plan to take care of the older generation and one of the best ways to do this is to incorporate a home care plan that works well with our national healthcare strategy. The world wide trend in the developing countries is that people are living longer and this trend is set to continue as advances are continuously made in medicine. Of course this is a huge benefit to us all as every one of us would like to live longer however there are some drawbacks. The fact that people are living longer the requirements for care as we get older is becoming greater every year and the resources to provide this care need to be in place in order for the elderly to be taking care of. One of the ways that care can be provided is through home care. When a patient doesn't need constant medical care that individual can get provided for through the home care program. A Home care program is provided as part of a health care strategy, whereby medical assistance is provided to the patient while they stay at their own home or with a friend or relative.



Taking care of patients at home has huge benefits both to the healthcare system and to the patients. As far as the hospitals are concerned sending a patient home to be cared for will free up bed space for the hospital which would allow more patience to be treated and therefore improving the overall efficiency of the hospital. To complement that, there are far more benefits to the patient because it is a well-known fact that outside the hospital patients are less likely to get infected with viruses like MRSA and would therefore need less medical attention and would recover from illness a lot quicker. Also because patients are being cared for by people who they know and love, the care tends to be of a higher quality when compared to nursing homes. Also if a patient has the ability to get around they can do small jobs around the house and therefore have a sense of purpose which is something that you wouldn't feel if they were staying in a nursing home type of environment. This can have a hugely positive effect on the general well-being of the patient because being in familiar surroundings and being cared for by people they know can have a positive effect on patients overall health and at a minimum would reduce the feeling of loneliness that can be huge part of staying within healthcare facilities.

As home care is generally part of the overall health care strategy there are a lot of supports that one can avail of in-home care situation. Part of that decision to put a patient in the home care support network is as a result of a detailed assessment by the doctors to see if a patient is suitable to be cared for at home. Once that decision is made there are a number of supports available for example home help resources can be allocated so that the patient and the family can get outside help on a daily basis to assist with the extra responsibility of looking after someone in the home. Because of other extra support like grants it makes looking after someone at home more feasible, just ask yourself the question if you were the patient would you prefer to stay in a nursing home or be cared for in the home where you've lived for most of your life?