Going home
We want things to go smoothly when you leave hospital. For this reason, making plans to leave should start before or at the beginning of your stay in hospital.
The doctor or nurse caring for you will tell you your predicted date of discharge within 24 hours of your admission. You will be kept up to date about your progress, plans for discharge and any changes to the predicted date.
We suggest that you discuss any care you might need after your discharge with your family, friends or carers. If you have any worries, or feel you might need any help, equipment or adaptations to your home environment, please discuss them with staff on the ward. You will not be discharged until arrangements to meet your needs have been met.
You and your relatives and friends should also think about transport home. We aim to discharge patients from 8am to allow for new patients to be admitted. You will be asked to wait in the discharge lounge if you cannot be collected until the afternoon. This is a comfortable area, staffed by nurses.
On the day you go home, you can expect the ward staff to:
- Give you clear and concise information about any further treatment and services that will be provided.
- Give you information about your condition and any necessary after care.
- Give you a supply of any medications that you need to take. If your medication has not changed and you have a supply at home, please let a nurse know. This will allow you to be discharged earlier in the day as you will not have to wait for tablets to be dispensed from pharmacy.
- Inform your GP and any necessary community staff about your treatment and after care.
- Give you an appointment for any out patient clinic you need to attend. If it is not possible to do this at the time of discharge, the ward staff will post the appointment to you.