"Poorly-handled discharge can have a huge impact on patients": Our response to CQC's inpatient survey
The results of the Care Quality Commission's coronavirus (COVID-19) inpatient survey show that most people were positive about the care and treatment they received in hospital during the first wave of the pandemic. However, there were areas where people had poorer experiences of care, such as when being discharged from hospital.
They found:
- 20% of patients didn't know what would happen after discharge
- 25% of people discharged from hospital had unmet needs
- 74% of patients were given contact details post-discharge
This supports what people told us in our recent report with the British Red Cross - 590 people's stories of leaving hospital during COVID-19.
Responding to the inpatient survey results, Imelda Redmond, National Director said:
“These findings closely align with our recently-published research into people’s experiences of hospital discharge since wide-ranging changes to processes were introduced earlier this year. Everyone appreciates how pressured the health and social care sector has been during the pandemic but poorly-handled discharge can have a huge impact on patients and their loved ones, often leading to further health problems and complications which in turn end up placing additional strain on resources.
“Previous evidence has also shown that basic things like communication failures and missed referrals to onward services have been persistent issues for a long time and while our joint investigation with the British Red Cross discovered positive feedback around increased cooperation between services, clearly work remains to be done. We hope service leaders will learn from this further evidence from our partners at the CQC which backs up our earlier findings, and work together to get discharge right for all patients.”
