Prolonged stays in hospital can have a negative effect on health and wellbeing, can be frustrating for you and your family and can also carry risks including:
- Physical decline and loss of mobility / muscle strength.
- Reduced independence.
- Increased risk of hospital acquired infection.
- Sleep disturbance.
- Risk of cognitive decline.
When people are in hospital they move around less and spend a lot of time in bed or sitting in a chair. An older person in hospital can spend 83% of their time in bed and 12% of time in a chair, and 10 days in hospital is the equivalent of 10 years of physical ageing.
Safely minimising unnecessary time in hospital
If your admission to hospital is planned, then we will discuss your needs for discharge at your pre-assessment clinic visit.
If you are admitted to hospital in an emergency, then the discharge planning process should begin at the point of admission and our teams will make decisions with you and your family.
It is important for you to leave hospital only when it is safe to do so, not just for your own health and wellbeing, but also for other people who need care in an emergency or for a planned operation.
In Newcastle we work in partnership with other local services to improve health and provide care to all who need it. We need your help to ensure that we can do this.
Top tips for your stay in hospital
- If it is safe to do so, try to keep as active as you can whilst you stay with us. This will help you get back to everyday activities more quickly when you return home.
- Remember your glasses if you need them, bring your own toiletries, hearing aids and dentures if you have them.
- Wear you own clothes and well-fitting footwear; this will help you feel more like ‘you’ and will help you feel better.
- Bring your prescription medications, this helps us to reduce waste and is better for the environment.
Leaving hospital
- Talk to the healthcare staff about continuing your recovery at home so you can plan for this together.
- To help speed up your discharge, improve safety and prevent waste, please inform the nurse sorting out your discharge if you have any regular medicines at home.
- If you need hospital transport to get home, then this will be arranged after your medications have arrived on the ward.
