Hospital Discharge Programme
The Hospital Discharge Programme is delivered by Charlton Athletic Community Trust at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, supporting clients to safely be discharged from hospital, and preventing them from being readmitted.
Some hospital patients are medically fit to be discharged as they no longer need the care the hospital provides, but they may not be able to access their home, have the right equipment, food or heating to be properly set up, or they may not have anywhere to go at all. This means that patients stay longer in hospital than they need, placing additional pressure on health services and disturbing the patients ability to safely readjust to their lives.
The Health Improvement team ensure that when our clients go home from hospital, it is safe for them to do so. If they can't get to the shops and buy food, or if they don’t have the right accessibility equipment set up in their homes, we can help. We ensure the clients' needs are met so that they can remain safe in the long term.
Many patients can benefit from social prescribing, so the Hospital Discharge Programme often links patients into Live Well if they could benefit from ongoing support.
How does the Hospital Discharge Programme work?
A Live Well staff member is present within the Discharge Team at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, linking between various NHS services and receiving referrals for things like:
- Food shopping to stock the house with basics to make breakfast, lunch and dinner, either leaving it at their home or giving to them as they wait for their transport
- Moving furniture around to making room for hospital equipment
- Picking up hospital equipment like a commode
- Installing a key safe
- Liaising with the Royal Borough of Greenwich handyman service
- Getting keys cut
- Feeding pets
- Contacting neighbours and family members on their behalf
Find out more about how the Hospital Discharge Programme works by watching the below video, which features Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer.