The plans for your discharge from
hospital begin on the day you are admitted.
Staff will ask you and/or your family
questions about your home and social circumstances.
This information helps the staff to understand how you will need
to improve before you are well enough to leave hospital, and to
begin to consider whether you will need extra support at home. If
you have any concerns about your discharge, please speak to the
staff caring for you.
Making an assessment
While you are in hospital you will have a
full assessment and any treatment and therapy that you require from
a multi-disciplinary team. This team may consist of nurses and
health care assistants, doctors, occupational therapists,
physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, dietitians and
community health staff.
The assessment will provide you with
information and goals you need to achieve in order to be discharged
– it will help us to agree whether you are able to look after
yourself or you need to be looked after by someone else if you are
discharged home. If you or your family or carer would like to talk
to your consultant privately during this process, an appointment
can be made – ask one of the nurses on the ward.
Rehabilitation
If you need a period of rehabilitation, you
may be referred to your local Intermediate Care Service. You might
benefit from a stay in a community hospital or a residential
rehabilitation unit, or they may arrange to provide reablement
support at home. ‘Reablement’ is timely and focused therapy and
care at home to promote independence. This period of rehabilitation
may last up to, but no longer than 6 weeks.
Social services
When you leave hospital, if you need any
help from social services, we will discuss this with you. Any
service essential for your safe discharge will be arranged before
you leave. Social services may ask to complete a financial
assessment prior to arranging your care as there is often a charge
for social care. The social worker will explain this to you if it
is necessary.
Moving to a care home
During your assessment, it may become clear
that you are unable to return home. The multi-disciplinary team
will discuss this fully with you and your family. We advise you to
consider more than one care home as your first choice may not be
available when you are ready to leave hospital. This does not
prevent you from moving to your first choice at a later date.
Medicines to take home
When you go home you may be given two week’s
medication that the nurses on the ward will explain to you. If you
have brought any medication in with you, this may be returned to
you providing it is safe and appropriate to do so. If you usually
have a dosett box or nomad pack, please let the ward staff know as
special arrangements are needed to restart these on your discharge
from hospital.
Information about your hospital stay and any
medication that you have been prescribed will be sent to your GP.
Further repeat prescriptions should be obtained from your GP and
you should make arrangements to see him/her before your medication
runs out.
Outpatient appointment
If you need an outpatient appointment we can
arrange it and will tell you the date and time of the appointment.
The details of the appointment will be given to you before you
leave hospital or will be sent to you in the post.
Sick certificate
Please tell the ward staff the day before
your discharge if you need a sick certificate.
Transport home
You will need to make your own travel
arrangements unless you have a medical problem that prevents you
from using a car, taxi or public transport. Once you are declared
fit to leave hospital, you will be asked to make arrangements to
leave as soon as possible.
If for any reason your discharge is delayed
until the afternoon, you may be asked to move to the Discharge Lounge to wait.
Arrangements at home
It is a good idea to check that some basic
arrangements are in place to make your transfer from hospital to
home as easy as possible. Talk to your family, carers and friends
to ensure that there is a key available to gain access to the
house, that there is sufficient food in the house and that people
are available to help you until you are settled back in. If it is
cold, ask someone to put the heating on for you.
Please also ask someone to bring warm
clothes in for you to wear on the way home.
Your views
We welcome any ideas, comments or suggestions that you or your
visitors might have regarding the service the Trust provides.
Please pick up a Talk
to us leaflet or visit the Trust website to find out the
different ways to give feedback www.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/.