The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Hospital in the Home (HITH) program is celebrating 20 years of service, treating children who need specialist care in the comfort of their own homes.  

‘Wallaby’, as it’s known at the RCH, is the largest paediatric HITH program in Australia and supports patients at home with everything from wound dressings to chemotherapy treatment, care which is usually done in hospital.  

The service supports more than 4,000 patients across Victoria annually with a team of more than 70 medical, nursing and allied health professionals.  

Each day, teams travel to patient’s homes to provide care in an environment that’s comfortable and familiar, supporting the emotional and physical wellbeing of children.  

For many families, this means less time on the road and less interruptions in their busy lives. For children, it often means less time away from family, friends and school, with the Wallaby team able to provide care at school when needed.   

For three-month-old Noelle’s family, from Narre Warren, it means spending more time with their baby girl as she awaits heart surgery.    

Noelle was born with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect – a hole in her heart. To ensure she is big and healthy enough to handle surgery, the team placed a shunt (drainage tube) in her chest to help keep her stable until she was ready.    

Since transitioning into Wallaby care at home for monitoring, the family receive regular support from nurses, dietitians, physiotherapists and speech therapists.  

“The constant reassurance helps me feel supported. They never make me feel like any little questions were dumb,” says Noelle’s mum Seiloga.   

 “It’s been four months now and it feels like we have a normal baby with no heart conditions, it’s because we know the team is there and only a call away,” says Noelle’s dad Raymond.  

Over the past two decades Wallaby has almost quadrupled its capacity, reducing the burden on wait times and finding an available hospital bed, which means the RCH can provide better care for more children.   

“The positive responses we receive from patients and families about the HITH service makes our work extremely fulfilling,” explains Eve Inglis, Wallaby Nurse Unit Manager.   

“It helps hospitals increase capacity and reduce wait times, while still providing high quality and safe care, closer to home,” says Eve.    

Raymond says, “it saves us so much time and they’re doing a really great job.”