Home from hospital for Christmas
Staff at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton will be doing everything they can to make sure patients can be safely discharged home before Christmas. There are more than 1,500 patients in our five hospitals and across other NHS sites where we provide care and we’ll be doing everything we can to get them home or their next place of care.
The Trust is today asking families and friends who have a loved one in hospital to prepare should they be well enough to come home in the next seven days.
Sharon Martin, Executive Chief Operating Officer at UHDB, said: “At this time every year our staff put in a huge amount of effort to get patients home to their loved ones at Christmas. It’s so special to see patients who probably thought they may have to spend a Christmas in hospital hear that they will get to go home to their family and friends.
“It can sometime come as a surprise to families that a loved one will get to go home before Christmas and we can’t do that without the support of those family and friends. Whether that is getting a bedroom set-up in their home for their relative or going to their house to stock the fridge, put the heating on and making sure they’ve got everything they need.”
Cathy Winfield, Executive Chief Nurse at UHDB, said: “For those who do have to stay in hospital over Christmas we’re going to do everything we can to make it as special as possible. Our nursing and medical staff really do go the extra mile for patients who are with us on Christmas Day. But with staff wearing face masks and patients being kept apart to ensure social distancing it will be that much harder. So were asking everyone who has a loved one in the hospital that can come home to help us over the next seven days, we really need your support.”
The staff at Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust are supporting the discharge of patients home. Ben Pearson, medical director of DCHS, said: “We’d support the plea for everyone to work together in ensuring all our Derbyshire patients have the best possible care this Christmas. Nobody wants to spend Christmas in hospital and we must do all we can to enable as many people as possible to go home if they are ready. This involves lots of different agencies and we are grateful for the support of people’s families as part of this plan.”
We appreciate that the discharge process will be different for those currently receiving inpatient care in one of Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s mental health or dementia units, but across the NHS we are keen for people to be in the place that's right for their recovery this Christmas.
Although the majority of patients in hospital at this time of year are older, there are some young adults too who NHS staff are supporting to go home. Earlier this week a 20 year-old from Derby was discharged just in time for Christmas with his family after a 30 week stay at the Royal Derby Hospital. Sam Hine, 20, was first admitted to hospital in May where he was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. After a just under seven months in hospital, including spending time on our Intensive Care Unit and an operation that saved his life, he is over the moon to be going home for Christmas.
Sam said: “Going home is the best Christmas present I could have asked for - I don’t need new trainers, I’m just happy to be able to spend quality time with my family again! I’m excited to go home to my family but also quite nervous – being in hospital for this long has been a bit of a safety blanket for me. I really have received the best care here from all of the staff; they have made me feel incredibly safe and confident to continue my care at home.”