Newham Hospital Discharge Project

Healthwatch Newham worked with Newham General Hospital to evaluate patient experience of the discharge process, the various aspects of the national discharge policy in place and to also identify areas of the policy that needs to be improved. They information from patients discharged from the Acute Assessment Unit (AAC) of Newham General Hospital. This was done through telephone interviews lasting about 20–30 minutes, using a questionnaire uploaded onto Survey Monkey. In total, 91 people (61%) were interviewed

Over three in five reported that they were satisfied with the discharge time and had no issues. Even for those that had issues, they were generally positive and wanted us to acknowledge that hospital staff were working under a lot of pressure. However, 38% were not happy about the discharge time due to delays.

Over three in five reported that their diagnosis and treatments were explained to them in a way that they understood when they were admitted. However, 9.3% responded to not understanding while 28% reported that they understood some but not all the information being given to them

When asked whether they felt that they received the appropriate treatment that they needed while at the hospital, 78% confirmed that they received the right treatment whilst 8% responded that they did not

Seven in ten reported that they had not been given or signposted to any other sources of information about their diagnosis and treatment.

Over half were clear about ways of contacting the hospital if there were any concerns, however, 49% of them had no idea.

Over half were satisfied with their discharge, while 7% of participants were very unsatisfied – mainly due to delays in discharge.

The report contains eight recommendations to improve the discharge process, including involving patients in their care and discharge plan; improving dispensing medication, better information provision and the time of discharge.