A new partnership between in-home care provider Prestige Inhome Care and local hospital charity Wishlist is aiming to help patients leave hospital sooner and recover safely at home, as health services and bed capacity up and down the Australian east coast continue to face pressure.

The collaboration focuses on strengthening pathways between hospitals and community-based support, with the goal of reducing delays for patients who are clinically ready to be discharged but lack adequate assistance at home.

Prestige Inhome Care CEO Mark O’Brien said coordinated in-home support can play a key role in easing congestion in both public and private hospitals.

“In-home care can absolutely make a meaningful dent in hospital congestion,” O’Brian said. “And we’ve already demonstrated this in practice.

He said many discharge delays are caused by non-clinical factors, including limited support networks or uncertainty about managing everyday tasks following treatment.

“When proper in-home care is in place, it bridges the gap between the hospital and the home,” O’Brien said.

The provider specialises in blending post-discharge assistance with personal care, meals and household maintenance, with services designed to complement hospital treatment plans rather than replace them.

O’Brien said programs that support patients transitioning home could help return valuable bed capacity to the health system.

“Patients remaining in hospital longer than necessary due to a lack of coordinated support at home obviously puts pressure on hospitals in terms of patients throughput,” he said.

Prestige has reported successful outcomes in other regions. Through a partnership with a major hospital group in Melbourne, the organisation has supported up to 200 patients a year to be discharged into in-home care, returning “hundreds of bed days” to the system annually.

O’Brien said access to structured support at home could also help prevent avoidable readmissions, which sometimes occur when patients struggle to manage their recovery independently.

Wishlist chief executive Brendan Hogan said the organisations shared a commitment to improving healthcare outcomes locally.

“As the Sunshine Coast’s local hospital charity, Wishlist supports the delivery of even better health care close to home, including when that care can be delivered at home,” Hogan said.

Prestige Inhome Care has operated for more than 20 years and employs about 1,500 carers across its network. Its services range from domestic assistance and personal care to specialised support such as palliative care.

The partnership is intended to raise awareness of in-home care options for patients who are medically ready to leave hospital, while helping health services direct resources to those requiring more urgent clinical treatment.