Our discharge hub at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) and discharge lounge at RD&E Hospital (Wonford) support patients to get home sooner after an admission to hospital. They provide a comfortable environment for patients to relax before being discharged.

This month we sat down with Tracey Squire, who is clinical ward manager for the discharge hub at NDDH. Tracey took us behind the scenes to find out more about the importance of the discharge hubs and how they help patients.

What does the discharge hub team do? And how does it support patients?

The discharge hub team work with the wards and the patient flow team across the Trust, to ease pressures elsewhere in the hospital by helping patients get ready to be discharged that day.

Patients who are planned to be discharged are moved to the discharge hub, which frees up hospital beds as early as possible, reducing the length of time that patients in the emergency department and patients coming in for surgery must wait for a bed to become available. Every patient who uses the discharge hub is also helping another patient.

The discharge hub consists of a small team of nurses, a pharmacy technician, a nurse manager, health care assistants and a transport coordinator.

What does an average day look like?

The discharge hub staff receive patients from all wards and departments and gets them ready for discharge that day. 

This includes supporting with things like personal care, changing dressings, checking take home medications (check for medication duplication, errors and missing medication) and administering medication, providing discharge paperwork, completing community nurse referrals, providing refreshments, liaising with staff members to encourage discharge and speaking with patients and their families/carers.

What do patients experience in the discharge hub?

We have tried to create a nice relaxing environment in the discharge hub enhancing patient experience so patients can feel comfortable whilst waiting for medication and transport.

There are wash facilities, beds, chairs, a TV to watch, reading materials (books/magazines) and hot drinks, snacks and a picnic lunch.  We have volunteers that are available to support and answer questions patients may have. We offer a comfortable area where patients can sit and chat with each other.

Why are the discharge hubs so important?

Our discharge hubs achieve better patient experience and increased patient flow, by allowing patients that are medically ready to be transferred from the ward while they wait to be discharged.

The discharge hub helps to streamline processes on the day of discharge and allows staff and beds to be freed up for new admissions, reducing waiting times for incoming patients.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know about the team?

The team are very motivated and passionate about making our patients' last experience of hospital a positive one and our aim is for the vast majority of patients to leave the hospital via the discharge hub. If you are one of those patients, we will provide the best possible care, and in our recent Friends and Family Test survey 98.8% of patients told us they would recommend the discharge hub.

You can find out more about our discharge hub and discharge lounge here.