Home-based treatment in Monaghan: the first two years.

Area of Science:

• Mental Health Services
• Healthcare Delivery Models
• Psychiatric Care

Background:

• Home-based treatment (HBT) offers an alternative to traditional inpatient or outpatient care.
• Evaluating new service models is crucial for adapting to patient needs and resource availability.
• The feasibility of HBT in rural settings requires specific investigation due to potential access challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the characteristics of patients receiving home-based treatment (HBT).
• To identify the primary reasons for utilizing HBT and the outcomes of this service.
• To assess the viability and patient profile of a novel HBT service.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of patient charts for demographic, diagnostic, and presenting complaint data.
• Utilizing a checklist to systematically record information from HBT service logs.
• Statistical analysis of data from 206 patients (275 episodes) over two years.

Main Results:

• The study included 206 patients (275 episodes), with a near-equal gender distribution.
• Severe depression was the most common presenting complaint (39.3%), and depressive disorders the most frequent diagnosis (28.7%).
• Outcomes included 13% admission, 67.3% referral to outpatients, and 9.5% discharge to a General Practitioner (GP).

Conclusions:

• Home-based treatment (HBT) is a feasible service model for a broad spectrum of patients and presenting complaints.
• The HBT model demonstrates viability within a rural healthcare setting.
• Further research is necessary to confirm the long-term sustainability and generalizability of HBT to other regions.