What the Isles of Scilly have said about their experience of leaving hospital during Covid-19

Healthwatch Isles of Scilly undertook a survey of people’s experiences of hospital discharge in August and September 2020 as they had identified this as an issue of concern.  5 people responded to the survey.

Four in five didn’t receive information about the new discharge process during their stay.  Three in five were discharged between 4pm and 6pm.  Three in five waited between one and two hours to be discharged.  Four in five spoke to someone about where they were going to be discharged to and three in five were actually discharged to the place they wanted to be discharged to.  All the patients had been discharged from Treliske Hospital in Truro.

Overall patients felt well informed of all processes and procedures. Hospital staff were supportive in helping with the discharge process and understanding of the complications of travelling back to the Isles of Scilly. The only comment about what could have been done better was regarding patient transport not booking the patients flight home, as they did not have a discharge letter. The staff at the hospital helped to rectify the situation, but had the patient actually left, they might have had problems booking their flight home.

There were four recommendations about better information and the timing of discharge to allow people to arrange flights to the Isles of Scilly.