Local NHS trusts are urging family members and friends with loved ones in hospital to take steps to ensure patients can return home to a safe and welcoming environment that supports their recovery this winter.
Health professionals from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT), the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB) and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) have joined forces to pull together their top tips of how to support a loved one who is being discharged from hospital.
By following the simple steps, healthcare professionals can be reassured their patients will be safe as possible and can be discharged as soon as they are ready to leave hospital.
The steps for family and friends of patients to follow are:
- Before picking up a loved one from hospital, pay a visit to their home to make sure the electric, heating and water supply are all working. If the heating has been turned off while they have been in hospital, switch it back on to warm the environment, so it is a comfortable temperature for them to return to.
- Give the patient’s home a clean and tidy before they come back. This is not only a kind gesture that will make them feel loved and welcomed, but it also ensures they return to a safe environment. Pay particular attention to any slip or trip hazards and cleaning up and removing anything that may have gone mouldy, such as dirty dishes or old food in fridges.
- Make sure the patient has a good supply of fresh food and warm drinks available, to keep them nourished while they continue to recover. We’d recommend getting in ingredients and meals that make up a healthy, balanced diet that will meet their needs. Where possible, include sources of carbohydrates (such as higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread or pasta), protein (meat, fish, eggs or beans and pulses), some diary, such as milk or yoghurts, fibre and fruit and vegetables.
- It is important your loved one is able to make and take telephone calls. This will ensure they can access follow-up care and ask for help if they need it.
- Ensure they have access to money, to buy anything they may need to help with their recovery.
- When picking them up to go home, bring them some fresh, clean, comfortable and weather-appropriate clothes to wear to travel back in.
- When they are ready to travel home, please pick them up in your car or organise for them to be transported if you don’t have a car. You may want to consider taking a taxi or using a volunteer driver service. If you need transport support, please ask the hospital what options are available.
- Finally, when at home, help to explain to them what support is available to them to help their recovery in the community. You may have been given some information or leaflets by a doctor or nurse – use these to aid conversations and go through them together. Add any appointments to their calendar. You can also check the Joy website to see what support is available close by. If your loved one has been discharged with medication, ensure they understand what it is and when and how to take it; if you will be supporting them with their medication, make sure you understand how to do this before you leave the hospital.
Linda Chibuzor, group chief nurse for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and Northamptonshire Foundation NHS Trust, said: “We know how important it is to get your loved one home whenever they have been in hospital, but it can feel especially important to want them back during the holidays and New Year period.
“We care about our patients and will always do our best to support them to get home as soon as they are ready. If we can, we will always try to discharge inpatients by lunch time.
“If our doctors and nurses can be assured patients are going home to a safe environment with what they need to support their recovery, it will allow us to release them sooner. Please follow our tips and together we can support your loved one to be home as soon as they’re ready.”