Discharge Care

If you have recently been discharged from hospital or will be discharged from the NHS early it’s recommended that you or your family discuss discharge planning. Your NHS doctor will suggest you get discharge care at home, in order to continue to monitor your progress. There are certain things you need to consider when planning for discharge care. A care agency such as Guardian Carers can make this transition in your care smooth and effortless.

How can you arrange Discharge Care?

Discharge care focuses on helping you restore your independence and continue to monitor your health in the comfort of your home. You or your family will discuss with us detailed information of your care and what is needed from a specialist discharge carer in your own home.

Guardian Carers are experts in their field, with a history of 15 years of providing professional care services in people’s homes, no matter the care, even discharge care. We have a wide range of highly-skilled carers who have worked with clients requiring discharge care at home.

Our discharge carers have experience working with a myriad of conditions including injuries, cancer, dementia, Parkinsons or arthritis, just to name a few. A lot of our carers have even had prior experience of working as healthcare assistants or nurses in the NHS, which proves they are highly qualified to work in discharge care in your home.

You may have been discharged from NHS and need discharge care for a short period of time, or may be needing continuing care. Any of your needs can be accommodated. With our discharge care service, you will receive exactly what you need. You will receive support with anything from personal care to daily housekeeping chores. These are just some of the things a discharge carer can do for you:

• Personal care
• Mobility assistance
• Medication prompting
• Running errands
• Cooking
• Hoovering
• Dusting
• Doing laundry

Guardian Carers can provide discharge care in your home on a temporary or permanent basis. Moreover, our discharge carers may come into your home for a few hours per day, on a part-time basis or on a full-time schedule. If you require live-in discharge care, that can be arranged in as little as one day.

Guardian Carers takes the hassle out of arranging discharge care on your own. With us, discharge care is stress-free and not time-consuming. No matter if you are looking to arrange discharge care for yourself or for a family member, you will receive a one on one service. From your very first call, you will be assigned a specialist discharge care consultant who will work closely with you and your family to decipher all the needs and special requirements needed. Your specialist discharge care consultant will work closely with you and your family to find the best-suited discharge carers in order to ensure the safety, security and comfort of your loved ones.

With our discharge care service, you can rest assured that you will receive truly premium and secure assistance. Our carers working in discharge care go through an extensive vetting process before coming to work into your home. We meet all of our discharge carers face to face. In our interviews we thoroughly discuss their experience, skills and qualifications. We also ask that they provide us with 2 references, which we check verbally. More than this, we request that all our discharge carers have an enhanced DBS check, also known as a Police check, in order to verify that they have a clean background.

We go above and beyond in ensuring your safety and security. We pride ourselves in offering a premium service all throughout. That is why before you decide to enlist our discharge care services, we offer you the unique chance to interview the discharge carers yourself. You have the choice to do that face to face or by video call. This way you can ensure that our discharge carers do not simply look good on paper.

What happens in the case of early discharge from the NHS?

If you or a loved one have been notified that you will be discharged from the NHS early, you should ideally make sure that help and support are arranged before you are discharged from hospital. Some of the key things which should be put in place before being discharged from the NHS and arranging discharge care at home are:

• A discharge carer will be at the home before your discharge
• Any home adaptations have been put in place, such as grab rails
• Any equipment is already fitted in the home, such as raised toilet seat, hoists or stair lift

In the case of discharge from the NHS early you may either need discharge care for a short period of time, in order to help you get back on your feet and live life independently. Discharge care can be arranged if you have had a short illness or an operation, for example. However, you may be looking for discharge care for a longer period of time, depending on your circumstances and on what your doctor has recommended.

Normally, when you are being discharged from the NHS early, your doctor will recommend discharge care at home. Discharge care may also be referred to as reablement care, intermediate care or aftercare discharge. If you got an early discharge from the NHS, what discharge care at home can do for you is help you stay as independent as possible and avoid staying in the hospital for unnecessarily long periods of time.

If you have been discharged from the NHS early, you and your family should take medical advice and enlist the services of a care agency providing discharge care at home. Whether you are looking at temporary discharge care, which can last from 1 week to 6 weeks or you need ongoing discharge care, for a period longer than 6 weeks, your doctor will arrange a discharge care plan for you in your home. Guardian Carers can suit all your discharge care needs in the comfort and safety of your home.

What arrangements should be made for after hospital care?

Discharge care should be arranged even before leaving the hospital. Your doctor will have arranged a discharge care plan for yourself or your loved one. Everything must be put in place at the home before arrival. The discharge carer must also be brought up to speed and made aware of the detailed discharge care plan, as advised by the doctor.

There are certain essential points you must keep in mind before you or your loved one arrive home, in terms of after hospital care. This will enable a smooth and stress-free transition from hospital care to after hospital care.

When leaving the hospital you should keep a copy of your discharge care/after hospital care plan to be passed on to the discharge carer. This will include important information such as the discharge care step by step programme, medication needs and vital health information. Your family, next of kin or power of attorney should also be given a copy of your discharge care/after hospital care plan.

Some other practical measures must be taken into account when transitioning to after hospital care. You or your family members must ensure that your discharge carer has been properly briefed in advance of the discharge, they are aware of your arrival time and are waiting for you at the home, or in some cases may even accompany you when you are being discharged from hospital.

On the day of the discharge from the hospital, yourself and your discharge carer will have to receive verbal and written information about your after hospital care. This information will include details about any services involved in your discharge care plan and further information about the future treatment and care which is needed. If on the day of your discharge from hospital you do not understand some of the things that your doctor is saying, do not be afraid to ask questions. You may even want to arrange for a family member to be present with you or your discharge carer.

One more essential thing to keep in mind is that your GP should also be notified of your discharge from hospital and continuing after hospital care. Usually, a discharge letter should be forwarded to your GP within 24 hours of your discharge from hospital. Make sure that your GP is made aware of your discharge from hospital and any support you may need from them in your after hospital care.

After you have settled back into your home and started receiving discharge care/after hospital care from Guardian Carers, you can rest assured that your road to recovery will be a smooth one. Our carers, who are experienced in discharge care, will offer you all the support you need to live your life as independently as you wish in the comfort of your own home.

Our premium discharge carers at home will help you regain the ability to perform your usual activities, so that you can do the things you enjoy doing on your own again, maintain your independence and live in the home you love, close to your loved ones.