In a clinic, a senior colleague is down the corridor. In a home, your nurse is on their own. DHA's rules on team, scope and supervision are built around that gap.
Version 2 of DHA's standard, effective 3 September 2025, says a home healthcare facility must employ at least three healthcare professionals. Services must be led by a physician, a registered nurse or a senior allied professional, depending on the scope.
All of them must be DHA licensed. The provider also needs a medical director, who supervises the professional staff, is responsible for the services and sets the policies. An administrative director is optional.
If you are adding home care to an existing clinic or hospital, staffing must cover both settings without compromising either, and the home service must stay within the facility's existing scope. Clause 7.4 replaced an earlier rule in version 1 of a minimum of one physician and one nurse, so check that any plan you were given is current.
DHA allows standalone home healthcare facilities to offer nursing care, physician services across listed specialties, rehabilitation, diagnostics such as laboratory testing and portable ultrasound, and support services such as nutritional counselling. The possible team includes:
Two exclusions shape many business plans. Non-surgical cosmetic services are not permitted in home healthcare settings. Surgical specialities are allowed only as an add-on from an existing facility, and only for post-operative follow-up. In-home dialysis, dental, psychiatry, and maternal and child care each have their own chapter in the standard.
| Role | Examples of care in DHA's standard | Limit to plan around |
|---|---|---|
| Physician | Home consultations, assessment and care plans, reviewing laboratory results, prescribing and refills, referrals, complex wound care and debridement | Must be privileged for home care by the medical director or privileging committee |
| Registered nurse | Health assessments, individual care plans, medication including injections and IVs, wound care, catheters, blood draws, point-of-care tests, tube feeding, palliative care support | Supervises the assistant nurses and works to physician orders |
| Assistant nurse | Daily living help, mobility, basic vital signs, reporting changes, basic dressings and ostomy support, helping with feeds and glucose tests, transporting specimens | Many tasks are only under RN direction or supervision. Medication: supports the RN and does not lead. |
DHA sets the registered nurse to assistant nurse ratio at 1:3. Registered nurses must also keep regular contact with their assistant nurses:
Build this into capacity planning from the start. A registered nurse who visits three assistant nurses' patients each week has less time for their own patient list. Treat supervision as scheduled work with its own travel time.
Inspectors look at this. DHA's random inspection checklist for home healthcare covers licences, personnel records, the medical director, the nursing ratio and monitoring. If staff become unavailable, DHA's manual says this results in temporary closure, so plan for cover too.
HealthcareSetup UAE explains the licence side in its guide to DHA home care licence requirements, and Pharmareg UAE handles DHA home healthcare licensing.
Version 2 of DHA's standard says a home healthcare facility must employ at least three healthcare professionals, led by a physician, registered nurse or senior allied professional depending on scope, and have a medical director.
DHA's standard sets the registered nurse to assistant nurse ratio at 1:3.
At least weekly for patients needing moderate to intensive care, and biweekly for lower-acuity patients, with remote check-ins alongside. DHA's guideline allows biweekly or monthly in-person visits for lower-acuity patients, so confirm your policy with your medical director.
Non-surgical cosmetic services are not permitted in home healthcare settings under version 2 of DHA's standard.
HealthcareSetup UAE recruits and credentials clinical teams as part of a home care build, and Pharmareg UAE handles professional and facility licensing. Both are brands of the same company and publish this guide.
The licence, clinical team, systems and processes, run as one project and handed over ready to trade.
healthcaresetup.ae ↗Regulatory affairs in the UAE: DHA facility and professional licensing, NABIDH, inspection readiness, and pharmaceutical and medical device registration.
pharmareguae.com ↗