A prospective comparative audit at East Cheshire NHS Trust assessed depressive symptoms and self-rated mood in 100 patients aged 70 and over, half treated as hospital inpatients and half through a hospital-at-home virtual ward, each after at least five days of care. A GDS-15 score of 5 or more was recorded in 72% of inpatients against 30% of virtual ward patients (unadjusted OR 6.00, 95% CI 2.53-14.24), and low self-rated mood in 38% against 6%. Comparisons were unadjusted, with baseline differences in sex and primary diagnosis between the groups.
Why it is interesting: It reports a psychological outcome for a hospital-at-home service, though the design cannot separate the setting from who was placed in it.