How to prevent a delayed discharge from hospital for an elderly loved one.

Описание: Debbie Harris, the founder of Autumna, a website that gives self-funders independent, free advice on later life care, explains the need for families to ensure their loved ones leave hospital as soon as they are deemed physically fit.

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If you have a loved one in hospital and the hospital discharge team have said they are medically fit to leave, what should you do?

Well, it's really important that you don't hang around. You may feel you have to wait for the discharge team to find onward care, but that isn't usually the case and especially not if your loved one is going to be funding their own care.

(For more information on who is expected to pay for their own later life care, see our article here: https://www.autumna.co.uk/free-advice...)

In fact, you should start looking for your elderly loved one's potential onward care the moment you're given an estimated discharge date - if not before.

The reason you should do everything you can to get them out of hospital as soon as they are deemed medically fit to leave, is because there are some horrendous stats that say that every day somebody over the age of eighty-five spends in hospital they lose 5% of their muscle mass. And if they're over eighty-five, that is unfortunately muscle mass that they're are very unlikely to regain.

In addition, a delayed hospital discharge could see your loved one start to lose their mobility due to excessive time spent languishing in bed. And, if they have signs of dementia, the unfamiliar surroundings of a hospital ward, is likely to exacerbate their condition.

So, the key thing is get your loved one out out of hospital as soon as they are pronounced medically fit. Take control. Do not wait for the discharge team to decide on a place for them. Be proactive. Funding may be an issue for some people, and in those cases your choice will be limited. But where it's not, you can start looking immediately.

And if you're not sure where to start looking, then Autumna can help you. We list every registered elder care provider in the country - not just a select few like most directories - all of them.

We're a free service and if you want some help from our advice line team, they'll be happy to help. Call them on 01892 349787. The lines are open 7 days a week. They're a friendly bunch and have a wealth of useful information. They've been on the same journey you're currently on many times before.