The process of leaving hospital once you are well enough is called hospital discharge. Your consultant will decide when you are medically fit enough to be discharged, but the final decision might involve several different people; perhaps the nurses on your ward, your doctor and staff from your local council social services department. (In Scotland the social services department is known as the social work department, and in Northern Ireland it is called the health and social services trust.)

The decision that you are to be discharged should not come as a shock – planning for the time when you leave hospital should begin almost as soon as you are admitted. You (and your family and friends if you wish) should be kept informed throughout your hospital stay of everything that is being done to plan for your discharge.

Every hospital has a hospital discharge procedure. This is intended to make sure that every patient who leaves hospital has the support and help they need. One member of staff, usually a nurse, will be responsible for co-ordinating the arrangements and making sure everything is in place before you are discharged.

Discharge arrangements can vary a lot, depending on your particular needs and on whether you are returning home from hospital or going to live in a care home. Information on going to live in a care home from hospital is given later. Information for people who are going home on leaving hospital is given in the next section.