QNI welcomes hospital discharge report

Dr Crystal Oldman, The QNI's Chief Executive commented:

'The Queen’s Nursing Institute welcomes the publication of ‘Safely Home’ by Healthwatch England.

'Their report reinforces the QNI’s own research with District Nurses published last year (2020 Vision Five Years On), which showed that problems with hospital discharge were of major concern to District Nurses. 83% of respondents to the QNI survey indicated that they experienced difficulties in their practice because of hospital discharge procedures.

'District Nurses have a crucial role to play in ensuring that patients – including older people, those with mental health problems and people who are homeless as identified by Healthwatch England – receive a seamless transition of care once they are discharged from hospital. This includes co-ordination of care with other community services.

'The QNI is therefore currently carrying out further research with District Nurses to identify recommendations which will enable best practice in hospital discharge arrangements from a community perspective, with the focus on the patient and carer experience. The project is led by experienced District Nurse Candice Pellett OBE and funded by the Department of Health and we will publish our own findings later this year.'

For more information about the project please go to: http://www.qni.org.uk/for_nurses/policy_and_practice/discharge_planning or email candice.pellett@qni.org.uk .