Planning for discharge should start from the moment you are admitted to hospital, and ideally, be managed by a named or key nurse. When it is time for your discharge, government guidelines suggest you should be offered a Discharge Planning Meeting to make sure that proper plans, support and care can be provided to meet your needs at home. A list of Discharge standards taken from the Dept. of Health website www.dh.gov.uk are on the reverse of this sheet.

At first sight your difficulties may not appear to be significant, therefore it may simply be assumed that your return to normal life will not be problematic. However as some cognitive deficits are subtle, their effect on your functioning within the home and work place may not initially be evident or may be underestimated.

If you are likely to have continuing health and social care needs, a care plan will be produced. This will identify who will provide the care and support for you at home. The person who will be your main carer should be happy with the plans that are put in place, and if they are not, they need to say so and explain why. You and they should be convinced that all placements and plans are in place before you return home and begin to access any community services – such as Care assistance, Respite facilities, Day Care, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy.

Your GP should be advised of your discharge from hospital by letter, which may be sent directly or given to you to hand over. It usually gives information about hospital treatment, medication to be given at home and any follow-up arrangements. A typed discharge summary will usually be provided to the GP and should be received within 10 days of discharge.

In a few cases, return home will not be possible and the facilities of a comprehensive residential rehabilitation programme may be required. The majority of people will be managed in local units although it may be appropriate for the person affected to be referred to a specialist centre for assessment and care planning, even if the implementation of the care plan is to be followed up by local professionals. Some people will need to be transferred to a specialist centre, with full neuroscience facilities and an interdisciplinary team with specialist skills in brain injury rehabilitation. Some centres have an outreach service available to staff from local rehabilitation units providing support to therapists asked to work with people affected by encephalitis who may have relatively little experience of encephalitis and its after effects.

This list is taken from a Dept of Health document “Discharge from hospital: pathway, process and practice” which can be accessed by following the link http://tinyurl.com/smxt5

Patient’s and Carer’s Discharge Standards

Patients being discharged from hospital have the right:

1. To full information on their diagnosis and the assessment of theirhealth and social needs in preparation for discharge.
2. To be fully involved in planning their own discharge, together with a relative, carer or friend as appropriate.
3. For the discharge plan to start on or before admission where possible.
4. To full information on the services available in the community relevant to their care.
5. To full information on short-or long-term nursing or residential care, including financial implications.
6. To be given an appropriate contact number where they can get help or advice on discharge.
7. To be given a clear, legible discharge letter detailing the support services provided for them (where appropriate).
8. To full information on health authority eligibility criteria for continuing care.
9. The discharge planning team to be available as a point of contact to offer support and advice to patients, carers, statutory and voluntary agencies.
10. Information on advocacy support.
11. To have access to the trust complaints procedure and any complaint regarding their discharge arrangements investigated and a full explanation given.
12. If still not satisfied, then be given access to the health service commissioner.

Last modified:12/01/2007