Hospitals are sending vulnerable patients home alone, report finds

  • Health

A damning new report has found many hospital patients are being sent home "alone, afraid and unable to cope".

People are being "badly let down by the system", the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said.

Cases noted in the "harrowing" report include:

  • A woman in her 90s who died in her granddaughter's arms shortly after she was dropped home

  • An 85-year-old dementia sufferer who was sent home at 11pm without her family being told

  • And a father's death from sepsis could have been avoided if he had been treated for the condition before he was discharged

Pam Waller was left home alone despite not being able to feed herself or go to the toilet. Credit: Family handout

The Ombudsman concluded that many patients are being sent home before they are clinically ready and others may be medically fit to be discharged but may not be practically ready to cope at home.

While relatives and carers are not always being alerted when patients are discharged and some patients are being sent home with no care plan in place.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said: "Our investigations have found that some of the most vulnerable patients, including frail and older people, are enduring harrowing ordeals when they leave hospital.

"Poor planning, co-ordination and communication between hospital staff and between health and social care services are failing patients, compromising their safety and dignity.

"Health and social care leaders must work harder to uncover why ten years of guidance to prevent unsafe discharge is not being followed, causing misery and distress for patients, families and carers."

Some elderly patients could not even use the toilet or feed themselves but were left alone at home. Credit: PA

A spokesman for NHS Improvement said: "Patients should never be discharged from hospital without the appropriate safeguards in place and without families having been informed.

"Better discharge processes, such as those being worked on by NHS Improvement's Emergency Care Improvement Programme to support local health systems to make improvements, will result in vulnerable patients being protected whilst reducing potentially harmful delays in appropriately discharging those who are medically fit.

"Rather than frail elderly people staying in hospital longer than they need to, it is better to get patients home as quickly as possible and to assess them in their own homes rather than in a hospital - but this must be done with the right help and support in place."