Scottish Association of Community Hospitals

Welcome to the
Scottish Association of Community Hospitals

The Scottish Association of Community Hospitals supports, promotes and develops Community Hospitals within NHS Scotland.

What is SACH?
The Scottish Association of Community Hospitals (SACH) is a non-profit making, voluntary body, representing Community Hospitals across Scotland and anyone who is connected to a Community Hospital, is a member of an extended Primary Care Team or is involved with a voluntary organisation with close links to a Community Hospital, such as a local League of Friends.

SACH is a multi-professional, multi-disciplinary and non-hierarchal organisation, which focuses on the ethos of care rather than structural, procedural or organisational issues.

What does SACH do?
The Scottish Association of Community Hospitals supports its members to provide the best care possible for the communities they serve by encouraging best practice, promoting patient-centred care and ensuring the implementation of national guidelines and standards.

Community Hospitals are a vital resource for the NHS in Scotland. SACH will provide all the support required by the Scottish Executive, NHS Scotland, Health Boards and Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) in order to further develop and extend Community Hospitals in Scotland, including the establishment of Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs).

What are Community Hospitals?
"A Community Hospital is a local hospital, unit or centre providing an appropriate range and format of accessible health care facilities and resources," explains Professor Lewis Ritchie of the Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, and a Committee Member of the Scottish Association of Community Hospitals.

"Medical care is normally led by GPs, in liaison with consultant, nursing and allied health professional colleagues as necessary and may also incorporate consultant long stay beds, primary care nurse-led and midwife services."

Services currently being provided by Community Hospitals across Scotland, in both urban and rural settings, include:

• Intermediate GP Acute Care
• Out-of-hours and emergency triaging services
• Out patient and specialist clinics
• Pre-admission and routine testing
• Day surgery
• Palliative care
• Rehabilitation
• Treatment for patients who cannot be cared for at home but who do not require the specialist care provided by a more distant hospital
• Convalescence if required
  
  
  

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