Starter Kit. Idea 356 of 500. Cluster 17
Care at home at the end of life, with a doctor and a nurse, which most families do alone
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
The first step
Approach a doctor and a nurse who already visit patients at home privately and ask whether they would work as a pair for a monthly fee. Then ask the ward sister at the nearest hospital how many families take a very ill relative home with nobody to call. Offer three of those families a month of scheduled visits and a night number at a stated price, and see who takes it.
- Who pays first
- A family bringing a seriously ill parent home, with a child abroad who wants a doctor and a nurse on call rather than a relative left guessing.
- What leaves today
- Families now carry the last months alone or fly relatives home for weeks; a paid home team turns that cost into skilled local work.
Ask first
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask what support exists for care at the end of life at home.
- National Medicines Regulatory Authority. Ask what rules apply to keeping strong pain medicines in a patient's home.
Check before you spend
The doctor and nurse's registration and insurance, the rules on pain medicines at home, and a written plan the family agrees for night calls.
Find out these three numbers
- How many families take a very ill relative home each month?
- What monthly price will a family pay for visits and a night number?
- What will the doctor and nurse charge as a pair?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.