Going Home from Hospital
Going Home from Hospital service
Our Going Home from Hospital teams are based in the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) and Southmead Hospital where they support adults aged 18+ years to leave hospital on time and return home safely. People are referred to our teams by hospital staff and we spend time talking to people to find out how we can help.
We are able to connect people to a wide range of voluntary sector services, including our own, that provide practical, social or emotional support. We are pleased to work in close partnership with Southmead Development Trust, Wellspring Settlement and Knowle West Health Park in particular who are able to take referrals from our team to support people once they get home.
Now also based in City Hall, we are working with Bristol City Council’s Adult Social Care team to help answer calls and emails from members of the public who are looking for help.
Patricia's experience of the hospital discharge service:
Patricia is a woman in her eighties and has lived all over the country. She has always been very independent; however, she recently experienced a fall whilst out walking which led to an extended stay at Southmead Hospital.
At the hospital, Patricia met Katie Hudson-Murt, one of Age UK Bristol’s Hospital Link Workers. Katie’s job is to support people returning home after a stay in hospital. She connects patients to practical, social, and emotional support in their community to make the return home as comfortable as possible. Katie brought lots of different information with her for Patricia and wrote her name on the flyer explaining what the hospital discharge service did and how to get in touch.
After having an x-ray, Patricia found out that she would need to go to a rehab centre, but because she’d been brought into hospital so suddenly, she didn’t have any overnight clothes or personal items with her. Patricia contacted Katie who was able to visit her home, and after detailing what she needed and where it would be in the house, Katie was able to bring Patricia her items.
Having her own items, clothes, wash things and mail, meant that Patricia felt more independent again.
“It was so successful,” Patricia said. “What more could anyone want? Just brilliant. So, she came with all my things. It’s nice to know there’s someone on site that you can ring, so I just wanted to express my thanks and say what a very good idea it is to have a base at the hospital.”
“One can feel vulnerable in a hospital, it’s very busy and sometimes you can’t get hold of people. I’ve lived alone all my life so I’m very used to making my own decisions, but some people would get very frightened and nervous, and I think it’s nice that they can pick up the phone and ask for help.”