SURREY patients are worried about leaving hospital due to a lack of clear information and communication, a report has found.

Healthwatch Surrey heard from patients that there were inadequate plans for transport home and that relatives had not received information about changes to care, with one patient even being sent home without a house key and without friends or family being informed.

Healthwatch Surrey, the local health and care watchdog, analysed the in-depth experiences of 59 older people and their relatives to form this report.

Watchdog chief executive Kate Scribbins said: “This isn’t a new issue. We know that the system is under a lot of pressure.

“But sending someone home from hospital without telling their relatives or ensuring suitable transport plans are in place is unacceptable.

“Communicating clearly with patients and their families is a fundamental, and not unreasonable, expectation to ensure people can be discharged safely and compassionately.”

The research took place between September and December 2017 during visits to Royal Surrey County Hospital and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals.

They conducted face-to-face interviews, follow-up telephone interviews and an online survey with patients, carers and families about the expectations and experiences of leaving hospital.

In a joint statement, the hospitals said: “Feedback from those using our services plays an invaluable role in helping us to continuously improve.

“The report highlighted that the discharge journey and communication with patients could have been better and we apologise for the negative experience the patients in question had while being discharged from our hospitals.”

The Royal Surrey’s chief operating officer Bob Peet said: “We already have a number of initiatives under way to help us do this (improve), including a detailed action plan focusing on the patient’s discharge experience.

“One example is the ‘transfer of care’ documents, which we developed to ensure that our community colleagues are well informed of the patient’s needs post discharge.”

The Royal Surrey has recently begun an initiative which enables patients to be discharged earlier from hospital.

They are given therapy assessments at home and the support of a carer “which not only enables patients to get home sooner, but provides a more accurate assessment of their ongoing needs after leaving hospital”.

Mr Peet went on to say: “We know, however, that there is still more to do and we look forward to working with Healthwatch Surrey and our colleagues at St Peter’s Hospital to develop the ‘discharge checklist’ to improve this experience for patients across our trusts.”

This ‘discharge checklist’ is to help patients, their families and carers to track the information they can expect to be given to them in hospital.

It will include topics such as symptoms to watch out for once the patient is back at home, any changes to medication, care at home and living environments.

Sue Tranka, chief nurse at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, added: “We will be working swiftly to implement the recommendations in the report.

“In addition to this we have been working closely with social and community care to continue to improve our discharge processes in line with our Trust values of outstanding patient experience.”

The ‘discharge checklist’ will be available in early spring and the full report is available to view online at www.healthwatchsurrey.co.uk