Models of care involving district hospitals: a rapid review to inform the Australian rural and remote context.

Conclusion District hospitals play an important role in the delivery of care, particularly at key times in a person's life (birth, death, episodes of illness). They enable people to remain in or near their own community with support from a range of services. They also play an important role in the essential fabric of the community and the vertical integration of the health services.What is known about the topic? Little has been published on the function of small-to-medium district hospitals in rural and remote Australia, and almost nothing is known about models of care that are relevant to these settings.What does this paper add? District hospitals form an important part of vertically integrated models of care in Australia. Effective models of care aim to keep health services close to home. There is scope for networked models of care that keep health care within the community supported by hub-and-spoke models of service delivery.What are the implications for practitioners? This review found limited evidence on the skill mix required in district hospitals; however, the skill mix underpins the extent of service and speciality that can be provided locally, particularly with regard to the provision of surgery and emergency services. International evidence suggests that providing surgical services locally can help increase the sustainability of smaller hospitals because they typically provide high return, short episodes of care; however, this depends on the funding model being use...

Source: Australian Health Review - August 17, 2015 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Nancarrow SA, Roots A, Grace S, Saberi V Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research