How Red Cross helps people get home from hospital

It’s generally agreed that once a patient’s clinical needs have been addressed and they’re on the road to recovery, the best place for them to recuperate is their own home.

But for many patients, particularly those who don’t enjoy the support of a large family network, or who are frail and vulnerable, going home can present its own challenges.

Over the past two years, the Red Cross has been working in partnership with hospitals across the UK to improve patients’ experience of being discharged from hospital.

Northern Ireland’s own South-Eastern Health and Social Care Trust harnessed Red Cross expertise with the introduction of the first hospital discharge service in Northern Ireland.

Piloted at the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, it has been hugely successful, and has been followed up with new services in the Royal Victoria, Mater, Antrim and Causeway hospitals, too.

Marina Kelly, the Red Cross’ Independent Living Operations Manager, explains how the service has not only helped patients but enabled the hospital to maximise every available bed space during busy periods.

“Patients want to get home,” she says, “and the hospital would like them to get home not only because they have other patients urgently needing beds, but because home should be the best place for them.

“For some people, especially those who live alone, the process of getting home and making that adjustment can be really tough. Just think about it; they might have been in hospital for months and they’re going home, maybe in a taxi, to a cold house, with no food in the cupboards and nobody to welcome them back. They probably feel a little bit weak and apprehensive – it’s quite understandable that during those first few hours and days, their chance of an adverse event, such as a fall, is greatly increased.”

The Red Cross was so concerned about these difficulties and the gap in care provision for people returning to live independently after a stay in hospital that the charity recently commissioned new research. This report shines a light on the failings of the present system, which means that for many patients the journey home from hospital is a shock to the system rather than a gradual and supported process.

The Red Cross’ Life Beyond the Ward research report suggests simple and cost-effective changes that could make the entire experience of going home from hospital safer, kinder and more effective.

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