Supporting the improvement of patient’s stay at our local Hospitals
Introduction
Healthwatch Brighton and Hove (Healthwatch) work closely with University Sussex Hospitals Trust (UHSx). We are in regular contact with their Director of Patient Experience, Engagement and Involvement, and on Monday, the 26th of June, 2023, we were invited to a workshop to discuss the hospital discharge process at the Southlands Hospital in Shoreham. The focus of the workshop was “On reducing the length of stay patients have in hospital and improving their discharge experience.” We invited a range of stakeholders to attend the event, including, Tilla Butler from Sussex Interpreting Services and Joss Bromley from the Carers Centre.
“With the help of Healthwatch and their local network, the workshop enabled participation from a range of perspectives including patients and their carers who may face barriers to engagement. The outputs from the day offer a unique contribution to improving patient experience, safety and length of stay in hospital and we are grateful to Healthwatch in their support and challenge to the Trust’s approaches, ensuring that the patient voice is at the heart of decision making.“
Background
Most of the research Healthwatch have undertaken in this area has focused on discharging patients smoothly from hospital, because this has been an ongoing issue. The work Healthwatch has previously conducted includes:
- Our nationally recognised Healthwatch Brighton & Hove Hospital Discharge Wellbeing Project (HOPs), which during the pandemic helped 2,404 people who had recently been discharged from hospital between 2020 and 2022. We found that 553 (23%) of people we contacted had some issue or concern related to their hospital discharge and 542 (23%) were referred for some additional community support.
- The hospital discharge process changed during the coronavirus pandemic and in June 2021 we wrote an article on What can you expect when you’re discharged from hospital?.
- In 2019, Healthwatch published a report “Let’s Get You Home” which looked at the experiences of old and frail people being discharged from the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH). We interviewed 80 people in hospital and followed up on 49 people two months later at home. 41% of those who took part were over 80 years old. We found that old and frail people were routinely leaving the RSCH without proper discharge plans or advice. Community support often failed to meet expectations and did not always help people cope independently at home.
Before Covid, the NHS was running the ’ Let’s Get You Home’ campaign, and as previously mentioned, the discharge process changed during the pandemic. Now that the coronavirus restrictions are no longer in place, this process needs to be built back up. At the event, we were told that currently, there is not an overarching process for smoothly discharging patients from the hospital, and as a result, it is often done in a disjointed way, which is difficult for patients and hospital staff. If there are delays in discharging patients, it could mean they unnecessarily stay too long at hospital. Consequently, the NHS are working on plans to improve the overall hospital discharge process for patients.
