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Information on discharging patients

You are medically fit for discharge when members of the team agree you no longer require hospital care. At this point you will be discharged. 

As soon as a patient's care with us begins, we will start to plan their discharge either back home or to a community hospital. Most patients return straight home after receiving care in one of our hospitals. This will be discussed within 24 hours of your admission. 

Depending on the circumstances, we might ask questions about a patient's home and how they managed to live independently before entering our care. If you are a patient, it is important that you share with us any reasons why you think it will be difficult for you to return home, so that we can seek support from healthcare professionals and social services. 

To support your discharge

  • share information about your plans to return home
  • ask family to bring toiletries and day clothes ready
  • if possible, get yourself up and dressed and in day clothes
  • if possible, try to stay mobile in hospital, sit on a chair rather than in a bed
  • please understand that once you have been treated and it has been confirmed that you are medically fit for discharge you can no longer stay in hospital