Hospital discharge report

Report - 1 June 2017

We carried out a research project to assess patients’ and carers’ experiences of being discharged from hospital. We made three separate visits to the discharge lounge at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) where we spoke with staff, patients, carers and family members.

Findings

Patients were asked if they had been discharged from University Hospital Lewisham in the past 18 months excluding this visit.

Our review revealed that 31.8% of patients had been readmitted to hospital within the above time period.

A majority of these admissions were for a separate condition, however 2.77% were related to their previous visit and occurred within 48 hours of the original discharge, a failed discharge.

The above percentage represents 2 of the 72 patients surveyed. A further 12 patients said that they were unhappy with the discharge service.

The discharge team were very positive, warm and welcoming towards patients. However, there are internal communication issues identified and some training could help to enhance the patient experience.

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Hospital discharge report
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