Save the WCH Hospital in the Home Program

Since 1999 the dedicated staff of the Cystic Fibrosis team at Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH) have provided South Australian families who have children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) with an incredibly valuable program called Hospital in the Home (HITH). In December 2012 the WCH HITH program was halted due to lack of available funding and is currently undergoing review by the Executives of the WCH.

People with CF often undertake regular hospital admissions of up to three weeks each time as part of their treatment to keep their lungs and body as healthy as possible. The HITH program allows children with CF to undertake the majority of this treatment at home, which is made possible by carer training and regular visits from the dedicated CF nurses and physiotherapists.

The HITH program allows children with CF and their families to keep up much of their normal routine, significantly minimising disruption to schooling, siblings, childcare, carers work commitments, and general family life. Many anecdotal reports from children indicate that they feel their health improved much more after being treated at home than they do when treated in hospital, as they are able to rest in their own comfortable and familiar surroundings.

The HITH program also makes sense on an economic level, as having children treated at home frees up hospital beds for other children who may desperately need hospitalisation.

Children with Cystic Fibrosis already have an enormous burden on them with their illness; the HITH program gives them back a sense of normalcy and independence which is so valuable. Please support our cause and sign our petition to have the WCH HITH program reinstated and fixed as a core part of the South Australian CF health service.