Hospital at Home: Getting well at Home
A stay in hospital is often also an emotional burden: patients give up some of their autonomy, have to find their way in an unfamiliar environment with strangers and submit to the highly regulated hospital routine. It is therefore hardly surprising that the prospect of receiving the same level of medical care in the comfort of their own home is highly attractive to many people. While this form of medical care has long been established in countries such as Norway, Japan and Australia, only a few approaches exist in Switzerland to date.
The "Hospital at Home" pilot project at the Arlesheim Clinic near Basel was therefore launched at the beginning of 2023. A decentralized, innovative care model for acutely ill patients was developed in cooperation with the canton of Baselland, an insurance provider and the Hospitales association. An interprofessional team of anthroposophically trained doctors and nurses carry out daily rounds and bring modern diagnostics and therapy - from ultrasound to emergency equipment - directly to the patient's bedside. A 24/7 on-call system and telemedical monitoring also ensure maximum safety. Feedback from patients and relatives is consistently positive. Complications such as delirium or hospital-acquired infections occurred significantly less frequently and hardly any follow-up rehabilitation was required. Initial scientific evaluations by the Bern University of Applied Sciences confirm this trend.
Political and public recognition is also not lacking. In March 2025, the Swiss Hospital at Home Society received the prestigious Victor Award in the category "Most courageous initiative in organizational development". Severin Pöchtrager, President of the Society and Head Physician at the Arlesheim Clinic, expressed his thanks for the award at the ceremony and reaffirmed the plan to firmly anchor Hospital at Home in the Swiss healthcare system. Inclusion in the "Health Strategy 2030" of the canton of Baselland is a further step towards this goal, as the integrative concept is intended to serve as a model for other locations. From May 2025, the Baselland Cantonal Hospital is planning its own "Hospital at Home" service at the Laufen Health Center, which is deliberately based on the "Arlesheim model".
