If the person you care for is admitted to hospital, you should speak to the relevant healthcare professionals as soon as possible and identify yourself as their carer. You should provide your contact details for updates about their care and treatment.
Before discussing receiving updates from hospital staff, it’s important to get consent from the person you care for. Staff must respect confidentiality and there may be limited information that they can discuss with you without permission – in that case, they could only speak about the condition in general terms.
You may want to talk to hospital staff about:
- What follow-up care or treatment is required, including medications?
- What changes there might be to your caring role, and how you will cope?
- What types of care you are willing and able to provide?
- How to use any equipment needed for care or treatment
- How to contact relevant services
- If anyone else provides care for this person, how they will be involved?
- If you have an Adult Carer Support Plan, how does this affect your hospitalisation plans?
e-Learning resource
A video of our Hospital discharge session – great for carers who may not be able to attend the live events!
VOCAL can help you find relevant information and support services for when the person you care for leaves hospital. We can help you with:
- Accessing an Adult Carer Support Plan
- Emergency and future planning
- Support for you whilst the person you care for is in hospital
- The hospital discharge process
- The move back to caring at home
- Signposting to appropriate support and services
Useful contacts
British Red Cross: Service offering up to 12 weeks of support after coming home from hospital.
Care Inspectorate: List of registered home care providers and inspection reports. This list is useful if arranging care privately.
Edinburgh Council or Midlothian Council: Daycare services for adults. A needs assessment may be required for these services. Some centres are specially designed for people with dementia, sensory impairment, physical or learning disabilities.
Scottish Government: More information about help after leaving hospital.
