Purpose:
The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to operate as a Home-Based Carer.
Home Based Carers provide supervised care and support to patients and their immediate family's/household members in the home and appropriate community-based settings in order to promote, restore and maintain a person's maximum level of comfort, function and health including care towards a dignified death.
A qualified learner will be able to:
- Assess, plan and provide holistic (physical, spiritual, emotional and social) care and support for patients and household members.
- Capacitate patient and household/family members as participants in the patient care team.
- Make appropriate referrals in order to facilitate a continuum of care.
- Maintain records and reports regarding care and support provided.
Rationale:
This qualification will equip learners with the necessary skills and competence to operate as Home-Based Carers. The benefits of Home Based Care (HBC) to the patient, to the family, to the community and to the broader health care system are well documented. Evidence from many countries suggests that home and community-based health services are critical to good health outcomes (WHO 2007).
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines HBC as the provisioning of health services by formal and informal care givers in the patient's home to promote, restore and maintain a person's maximum level of comfort, function and health, including care, towards a dignified death.
The national Department of Health Guidelines on Home-Based Care and Community-Based Carer suggests that HBC addresses several problems within the health care system including: shortage of hospital beds; inadequate number of medical, nursing and allied health professionals; lack of resources; overcrowded hospitals and overburdened staff which can result in an environment that is unsuitable for managing patients with terminal diseases and increase costs of institutional care.