Hospital discharge report

Hospital discharge must be improved to manage the COVID-19 second peak.

Healthwatch research shows significant numbers of people are not receiving follow-up support after being discharged from hospital under new policy, leading to unmet needs. Find out more in the Healthwatch joint report with the British Red Cross.

Are people benefiting from faster hospital discharge?
To help hospitals free up 15,000 beds and cope with demand at the peak of the pandemic, the Government issued policy to switch to a ‘discharge to assess’ model in March 2020. This meant people were discharged from hospital faster by having their ongoing care needs assessed at home.

The public is grateful for the dedicated doctors, nurses and care staff who worked hard to save lives during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, although the speed at which people were discharged from hospital was important, it also led to worse care and a lack of support for some patients leaving hospital.

In partnership with British Red Cross, Healthwatch's latest report reviews the experiences of 590 people. The research exposes where the current policy is creating gaps in care and calls on the NHS to address these issues as we enter the busy winter period amidst growing pressures of a second COVID-19 wave.

Read the report