Going home from hospital

While you are in hospital, your healthcare team will ask you questions about your needs. This helps them find out what support you may need when you go home.

They may ask:

• Do you live alone?
• Do you have someone who can take you home?
• Do you have family or friends who can help you when you get home?
• How do you manage with personal care, such as bathing and washing?
• Do you think you will be able to prepare your own meals at home?
• Can you manage steps or stairs, and is there a bathroom downstairs at home?
• Do you think you will need financial support?
• Do you have any pets that will need looking after?

Your team will ask your permission (consent) before they do a needs assessment. They will also ask you if the information can be shared with other healthcare professionals and organisations.

If you do not feel confident understanding or speaking in English, the hospital may be able to arrange an interpreter. They can be there when you meet the healthcare team.

If you have any speech or hearing problems, you can ask the doctors or nurses to write things down. If you have sight problems, you can ask for information in large print. A family member or friend may also be able to help you with the needs assessment.

If you have been treated in a private hospital, you may need to contact local authorities yourself to arrange a needs assessment.

After the needs assessment, your healthcare team will plan for your discharge. Your discharge plan may include:

• the name of the person who is co-ordinating the plan
• details of the treatment and support you will get when you go home
• names and contact details of who will provide the support
• details of when, and how often, the support will be provided
• names and contact details of who to contact if there is an emergency, if things do not happen as they should or if you need help out-of-hours.

You can ask the ward staff for a copy of your discharge plan if you have not received it before your discharge.

You may have a holistic needs assessment (HNA) before going home. This gives you a chance to think about your concerns and discuss possible solutions. It is called ‘holistic’ because the assessment looks at needs or concerns you may have about any area of your life. It is not just about looking at the symptoms of the cancer.  

Your key worker will ask you questions about how you are feeling and the help you need. They will then create a care plan which includes ideas to manage your concerns and contact details for helpful organisations or services.

Everyone with a long-term condition should have a care plan if they want one. A care plan is an agreement between the person who is ill and health or social care professionals.

It lists the services and support you will get after treatment or after leaving hospital. It also includes information about what you can do to manage your day-to-day health.

Ask your key worker, specialist nurse or social worker if a care plan has been organised for you.

If you have family or carers who will be looking after you, they should be involved in the needs assessment and discharge planning. Caring can be hard work, both physically and emotionally. Your carers may need help to support them in their caring role when you go home.

Before you leave hospital, your hospital team will give you the following.

It is important to make sure your GP gets the letter as soon as possible. If you are not given a letter to take with you, your hospital team should have contacted your GP electronically. You could check this with the hospital staff. You can also ask for a printed copy of this letter.

The letter will include information about the treatment you had in hospital and your future care needs. It also explains any medicines you are taking and any changes that have been made to your medication.

Your hospital doctors will arrange for you to have enough medicines for 1 to 2 weeks. You will need to get a repeat prescription for any medicines you need to keep taking. For most medicines, you can get this from your GP. But some drugs, such as chemotherapy or other cancer drugs, can only be prescribed by your hospital doctor. They are only given out by the hospital pharmacist.

Make sure you ask your GP surgery for your repeat prescription before your medicine runs out. This is because it can take up to 48 hours for your prescription to be ready to collect.

Always take your medicines exactly as they have been prescribed by your doctor. This is important to make sure they work as well as possible for you.

If you find it difficult to remember what drugs to take and when to take them, you can use a pill organiser (dosette box) or a calendar blister pack.

Pill organisers have boxes for the day and time your medicines should be taken. You can get them from most pharmacies, but your GP has to arrange it. You, a family member, friend or carer will need to fill the pill organiser with your medicines.

Calendar blister packs come pre-prepared by the pharmacy. They have the day and time when the medicine should be taken on the pack.

Talk to your hospital team if you think a pill organiser or calendar blister pack will be helpful for you when you go home. You might find it helpful to write down the details of each of your medications.

You will get a list of names and contact details to use if you are worried when you get home. It is important to keep these somewhere safe so you or a family member, friend or carer can use them.

You should also be given telephone numbers for your hospital team in case you need to contact them. Your hospital team will tell you if you need to contact them directly about certain medical worries after you go home. It is important to follow the advice you are given. You can print and use this key contacts table (PDF) to write down their contact details.

If your doctor thinks you need oxygen at home, they will prescribe it for you. You have the oxygen using a face mask or through small tubes that sit under the nostrils (nasal cannula).

If you only need oxygen for short periods of time, your doctor may recommend you use an oxygen cylinder. If you need it for longer periods, the hospital may supply an oxygen concentrator. This is a machine that takes oxygen from the air. If you need oxygen when you go to appointments, you can get a small moveable (portable) cylinder to take with you.

Oxygen can be a fire hazard, so it is important to use it safely at home. Never smoke or use flammable products. Always keep the oxygen more than 6 feet away from flames and heat sources.

You can find out more about oxygen treatment from the British Lung Foundation or NHS.UK.