Getting help after hospital discharge
What is hospital discharge care?
Hospital discharge care is the support you receive after leaving hospital. It may be provided in a care home but is now more commonly delivered in your own home. Before you leave, a discharge plan will outline the care you need, including any treatments and medications that have been arranged.
You may have visits from a district nurse but if you need more frequent care or support you may decide to have a carer come to your home regularly or even live in. They can help you with every aspect of your practical care such as housekeeping, medication, personal care and meal preparation. They can also accompany you to outpatient appointments, activities, and anything else you like to do in the community.
How Helping Hands can help after hospital discharge
Your Helping Hands carer will be able to help you get used to any equipment that the occupational health team may have installed in your home. This can include stair rails, a commode, raised toilet seats, or a stair lift. We also offer reablement care which is short-term care at home that may be necessary after an illness or hospital stay. Reablement care is specifically aimed at people who will regain their independence after a fixed period and will then no longer need care at home.
Care planning before you leave hospital
An effective hospital discharge care plan should contain all the information that your carers will need once you’re home. If Helping hands are going to be supporting you, you will likely have met with one of our local managers while you’re still in hospital.
Hospital discharge assessments
Your hospital discharge assessment will cover the type of assistance you need, how long you’ll need it, and the frequency of care. We offer both visiting care and live-in care so you can choose whichever type of support suits you best.
A personalised care plan
We’ll always design you a personalised care plan because support isn’t ‘one size fits all’. We’ll get to know you and how you like to live your life so that your support covers every aspect of your daily routine while remaining flexible to change.
Arranging care at short notice
Because we have a network of 155 branches across England and Wales, we have carers available to provide support at short notice. This means that you’ll never be left unsupported, even if you’re discharged quickly, providing peace of mind.
Support available at home after discharge
Getting a plan in place in good time is key to having a seamless discharge from hospital. That means that the day you’re discharged you’ll have the care in place to ensure you’ll be effectively supported at home. This continuity is essential because you and your loved ones need to be confident that you’ll have a continuity of care once you leave hospital. Because we have our own team of clinical nurses at Helping Hands, we can support every condition, from the simplest to the most complex care needs.
Types of care for hospital discharge
We offer several different types of care, which can be flexibly moulded around your situation.
Visiting care
From 30 minutes per week up to all day and night, our visiting care service will reassure you that you’ll see a friendly face at key times of the day. This may be to help you out of bed, or to take you to appointments.
Live-in care
Live-in care is around the clock support that means you’re never alone at home. Not only do you get all the practical support you need, but your carer is always on hand if you fancy a chat or would like some level of companionship.
Respite care
Respite care is short-term support that ensures you’re taken care of for a fixed period of time. This may be a few days or a few weeks, due to hospital discharge or recovering at home from an illness.
Emergency home care
Circumstances don’t always go to plan, which is why if you need urgent care, we can be there for you at the drop of a hat. Our trusted carers are available across England and Wales, which is why we can often begin care in 24 hours.
Specialist support after hospital discharge
Our specialist support is available across England and Wales, and our in-house clinical nursing team will make sure your carer has all the knowledge they’ll need in the most complex of circumstances.
Post-operative care
Post-operative care will often include physio, pain management, and support with your day-to-day routine. This type of care will begin before you’re discharged from hospital and will often continue once you’ve returned home.
Stroke recovery support
A stroke can be a life-changing event, so you need to know that you’ll have the care you need once you’re discharged from hospital. Our stroke aftercare will focus on the effects of your stroke and how we can help you live well.
Dementia care
Being diagnosed with dementia can be life-altering, as you and your loved ones come to terms with the implications. We’ve been supporting people to live well with dementia since 1989, so it’s no surprise we’re the home care experts.
Palliative care
Having a life-limiting condition doesn’t mean you aren’t able to continue living well for some time. We’ll support you to attend therapies and treatments, focus on pain management and make the most of the days you’re well.
Benefits of choosing Helping Hands
Helping Hands have been supporting people to live as well as possible at home for 37 which is why we’re considered the UK’s most trusted home care provider. There are many benefits of choosing an established home care company for your post-discharge support, and our amazing carers will help you to make the most of your days and begin to enjoy life again as you recover. Opting for care at home, rather than residential care, means you’ll receive one-to-one support in the place you love most, relaxing in familiar surroundings, with the people and pets you cherish close by.
Hospital discharge care FAQs
Yes, Helping Hands can carry out a care assessment with you while you’re still in hospital, to ensure that the support you need is in place before you’re discharged.
Your carer can be in place the day you arrive, waiting to welcome you home from hospital.
Yes, you can. We offer respite care in many forms, visiting and live-in, as well as reablement care and emergency care.
We support many customers with complex care needs. This is because we have our own team of clinical nurses who support complex care situations across England and Wales. They will ensure your carer has all the knowledge and skills necessary to provide complex care.
Our care packages are all fully flexible to change as your needs do. We always keep you at the centre of your care journey meaning everything is built around you and your requirements.