Planning for home
If upon attending our hospitals you require an overnight stay, you will be given an expected date of discharge by the clinical team looking after you.
This leaflet details what needs to be considered to organise your discharge, and questions that you may want to ask your clinical team. These include:
- What is the main reason I am in hospital?
- What is going to happen to me today and tomorrow?
- What extra help might I need when I leave hospital?
- When will I be able to leave hospital?
Some of our patients may require practical task support when returning home to help them carry out tasks such as shopping. Often, family or friends can support with this, but occasionally more formal support is needed.
An assessment of these needs will be carried out and will be detailed on a Transfer of Care Document. This will include:
- Your personal care needs
- Your health (including psychological and emotional) needs
- Your needs for support from either nursing (e.g. district nursing) or other healthcare workers
- Your needs for aids or adaptions to your home (e.g. handrail).
Our teams will then work with our NHS colleagues and local authority to ensure you get the care you need to safely leave our hospitals. This may require you to transfer to another care setting to ensure the best recovery and recuperation outside of our acute hospital setting.
On the day of your discharge
To help us prepare for other patients being admitted to our hospitals, we will aim to have you or your loved one ready to leave the ward from 8am onwards, depending on your needs and circumstances.
The below information will help you and/or your friends and family prepare:
Please be aware, patients at Aintree University Hospital or The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, may be required to wait in a discharge lounge. These open from 7.30am-7.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Here you can wait in comfort for discharge medication and your transport to arrive.
