Carers’ experiences of hospital discharge: Discharge to Assess model (Carers UK, September 2021)

Summary

This report published by Carers UK looks at carers’ recent experiences of hospital discharge under the discharge to assess model.

It reveals the devastating toll on carers where it is clear that they have been left with unacceptable levels of caring responsibilities which are unsafe in some situations. This has placed intolerable stress upon carers and has had negative outcomes for people needing care and support.

A very clear thread from carers’ experiences shows that carers have not been involved, consulted or given the right information in order to care safely and well. If carers are considered to be partners in care, then, like health and care professionals, they need access to relevant information to help them support a person needing care safely.

Content

Whilst there have been examples of good practice and praise from carers, the report found a number of areas of consistent concern:

Patients, in some cases, were provided with very low levels of care but needed much more. This questions whether they should have been placed on a higher pathway and given an adequate level of support.

• Carers were not consulted about or involved in discharge.
• Consideration was not always given to a patient’s ability to remember or recall important information putting the patient’s and, at times, the carer’s health at risk.
• Some carers were given no or little information on a person’s condition and yet were expected to provide significant amounts of care. Carers were left to care without sufficient support, placing them at risk.
• Carers were left without contacts if there was a problem.
• Patients were clearly not safe to be discharged and their health was put at risk, with insufficient support. • Carers’ expert knowledge about complex conditions was not respected or utilised.
• Carers were not considered partners in care.
• Carers’ stories suggested that nutritional needs were not always being met.