The Ealing Hospital discharge hub works with:
- Ealing Community Partners (ECP) intermediate care team
- ECP referral hub
- Ealing Council
- Ealing Hospital (London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust)
The purpose of the discharge hub is to help people to leave Ealing Hospital as soon and as safely as possible to the right place to support their recovery.
The hub provides a single point for hospital staff to liaise with the relevant services outside hospital to support people to leave, most of whom go home, within hours of being discharged by a doctor. This is better for the person and allows more people to be treated.
A multi-agency health and social care team works together to support the discharge process and arrange community support services.
Once someone is identified as being medically ready for discharge by the inpatient team, the discharge hub can support them to move out of hospital through one of a number of ways (known as pathways) which are agreed on a national basis:
- We aim to help patients to leave hospital within 2 hours.
- More time may be needed for people with more complex care needs that require greater co-ordination.
- Our Home First team can meet discharged patients after discharge to help with their immediate needs.
Depending on the specific needs of the person being discharged, we will:
- Organise any continuing care and support, including supplies of medication, transport home, volunteer and voluntary sector support and immediate practical measures, such as shopping and turning heating on. This is known as pathway one.
- Arrange home care support if needed. Support may be continued for up to 6 weeks (pathway one)
- Arrange rehabilitation in a community hospital. This is known as pathway two.
- Arrange for transfer to a care home if a person’s needs are too great to return to their own home.
These NHS leaflets available online provide information about discharge arrangements (available in 12 languages and Easy Read).
Leaflet A
Hospital discharge information for patients entering hospital
Leaflet B
For patients before discharge from hospital
This is split into:
- Your hospital discharge – going home (Leaflet B1) – for people being discharged to their usual place of residence
- Your hospital discharge to another place of care (Leaflet B2) – for people moving on to further non-acute bedded care
- Looking after friends or family when they leave hospital (Leaflet B3) - for the person’s family member or the person who’ll provide care for them.