Blackpool Teaching Hospitals is aiming to organise safe, timely and effective discharge of hundreds of patients over the next fortnight, to ensure that families and friends can see their loved ones in a more familiar setting and be home for Christmas.
The Trust’s ‘Ho Ho Home For Christmas’ initiative will see the Trust’s Transfer of Care Hub and associated services, work together with healthcare partners and families to make sure everything is in place for when a patient is ready to leave hospital.
Charlotte Hamer, assistant lead for hospital discharge services oversees a multi-disciplinary team of health and social care professionals, supported by voluntary sector colleagues from Age UK and the British Red Cross.
It’s the responsibility of the Transfer of Care Hub to organise, coordinate and facilitate safe, timely and effective discharge plans for our patients following on from their hospital stay.
Charlotte explains how the discharge planning process works once a patient has been identified for safe discharge.
“Our discharge facilitators will visit you on the ward and talk to you about your home circumstances to gather all the information that we need to identify if you need any further support following on from hospital,” Charlotte said. “An estimated date of discharge will be set by the team looking after you and we will use this to make sure everything’s in place for when you’re ready to leave hospital.
“If you need further support following on from your hospital stay a referral will be made to the Transfer of Care Hub from the ward with recommendations of how your needs may best be met. A joint health and social care triage will then take place by our experienced coordinators and they will identify the most appropriate discharge pathway to meet your need.
“This will be discussed with yourself and your family, it is our priority to ensure patients receive a streamlined discharge pathway and a quality service on their hospital-to-home journey.
“We are here to support with your needs to facilitate a hospital discharge to a more appropriate setting to continue your recovery.”