France has a lesson for Hong Kong on freeing up hospital beds: let nurses visit homes

Paul Yip’s article, “The real reasons why our public hospitals struggle” (February 17), identifies the ageing population for the increasing demand on hospital services. He writes that Hong Kong must take steps to reduce the number of days its population spends in hospitals, and Hong Kong must identify more cost-effective services and better patient management techniques to help reduce hospitalisation stays.

This objective applies all over the world, and Hong Kong should look at what other countries are doing.

For example, a few years ago I was hospitalised in France. Treated with antibiotics, I was discharged in four days, but still needed antibiotic intravenous treatment twice daily for a further week. This was administered by a nurse who came to my home, hooked me up to a drip and, one hour later, returned to unhook me. This was repeated again in the early evening, the advantages being that I no longer occupied a hospital bed; I was in my own home, where I was free to do whatever I wanted, including going for a walk, gardening, etc.

Hong Kong is a perfect city in which to implement a home nursing service, because nurses’ travel distances would be very short and the service would be very efficient. Not everyone could be cared for in this way, but enough could be to substantially relieve the pressure on hospitals.

Most people would prefer to be at home, rather in a hospital ward, so why keep people in hospital if their own beds are lying empty and they can be looked after at home?

R.L. Wilson, Discovery Bay