Home First: Planning a Patient's Discharge from Hospital

A guide for parents, families and carers

During a patient’s time with us, our aim is to help them recover as quickly as possible so that they can return home.

To avoid any unnecessary delays, we will start discussing their discharge as soon as they arrive in hospital.

A member of the team caring for the patient will ask them and their family (if they would like them to be involved) about their home circumstances/environment and the support they already receive or may need on discharge. It is important to inform us as soon as possible about anything that might make their return home difficult. Once a doctor has said the patient is well enough to be discharged, hospital is not the best place for their recovery. We want to support patients to go home as soon as they are fit and well enough to do so, to prevent them from coming to any harm.

By helping appropriate patients to return home, we can also ensure we are able to care for our most unwell patients.

Supporting a Patient’s Recovery

With support from our staff and relatives, there are a few things patients can do to help speed up their recovery and get home as soon as possible.

Find help and support after you've been discharged from hospital from the following organisations: