After your stay

Some support you might be offered could include:

• Monitoring at home. This is where we use technology to allow staff in hospital to check how you’re doing, for example your blood pressure, while you’re at home
• Rehabilitation or social care. You may be offered some rehabilitation sessions to help get you strong again, or regular visits from a home care worker, if required, to help build your confidence in doing things for yourself

The British Red Cross

The British Red Cross offer a service to support vulnerable people when they leave hospital. They provide a range of services including shopping, collecting prescriptions, befriending and signposting. Please tell a member of ward staff if you think this service would help you.

Social care and community health support at home

Ward staff or the discharge team (who advise and support ward staff to plan your care after you leave hospital) will work with social services or local community health services to help put arrangements in place for when you leave hospital. If you need support from district nurses, therapists or specialist diabetic teams at home you will need to be registered with a GP.

What should I do if I'm at home and need guidance?

If you are at home and don’t know what you need to do to get better, or you aren’t sure what the next steps are in your recovery plan, please contact us. Phone the ward that discharged you for more information. 

If you’re at home and have issues with your social care support, please contact your local social services department. If you don't know who this is, your council's website will have a page called Adult Social Care that should include who to contact.

After leaving hospital, you may find that you feel down or low at times or have upsetting memories or thoughts about your hospital stay. It is normal to have emotional concerns. Remind yourself of any coping strategies you have used during difficult times in the past. It can help to talk to someone you trust about these feelings. It might also be helpful to tell your GP or healthcare team about any difficulties you are experiencing.

What happens if I'm not well enough to return home?

We will provide those patients who are moving into a care or nursing home after leaving hospital with information about the next stage of their care. We can support you to share this information with your relatives via email. 

Discharge to a community hospital

Following assessment, you may be moved from one of our hospitals to a community hospital. Community hospitals are focused on helping people who no longer need acute or specialist healthcare but who still need full-time care to continue their recovery or rehabilitation. This is sometimes called ‘step down’ care. 

Discharge to a care home

If we think you need on-going care in a care home, we can talk to you about why this is the case, as well as possible next steps. You will be allocated the most appropriate care home to meet your needs, of those that are available. There may be limited choice regarding what care home you are discharged to, but, where there is a choice, we’ll ask you which one you’d prefer. 

If you’d like to consider a privately funded care home, you can contact the Care Home Select Service www.carehomeselection.co.uk. 

Funding ongoing care

It may also be necessary to assess how any ongoing care will be funded although, in most circumstances, this will be carried out after you have been discharged so there are no delays in leaving hospital. It is important to note that whilst NHS care is free to everyone, social care is not. Please speak with your named staff member to find out what this might mean for you.