Inpatient Experience Survey 2018: national results

9. Leaving Hospital

Summary

• Seventy eight per cent of people rated the overall arrangements for leaving hospital as "excellent" or "good".
• Thirty per cent of people said that they experienced a delay on the day that they left hospital, which is nine percentage points less than in 2016. The most common length of wait was between 2 and 4 hours.
• The most common reason given for the delay was "waiting for medicines".
• Fifty eight per cent of people agreed completely that they, or their carer, was involved in planning their discharge from hospital, with a further 27 per cent agreeing to some extent.

Overall

People were fairly positive about the arrangements made for leaving hospital; 78 per cent rated these positively, which is the same as previous surveys in 2016 and 2014.

Figure 9.1 : Overall rating of arrangements for leaving hospital, 2018

Figure 9.2 : Overall positive rating of arrangements for leaving hospital

NOTE: Data for the 2010 to 2012 surveys have not been weighted to account for non-response and so are not directly comparable to the 2014 to 2018 surveys.

Delays on the day that people left hospital

Thirty per cent of people said that they experienced a delay on the day they left hospital, which is nine percentage points less than in 2016.

Figure 9.3 shows that, in 2018, 44 per cent of those who said that they were delayed waited up to 2 hours. Thirty-six per cent waited between 2 and 4 hours and 20 per cent waited more than 4 hours.

Figure 9.3 : Length of delay on the day of leaving hospital

When asked about the reason for this delay, the most common reason given was because of a wait for medicines. Sixty-nine per cent of people who were delayed said that this was one of the reasons for the delay, as shown in Figure 9.4. Note that respondents were able to select more than one response to this question, so the totals do not sum to 100 per cent.

Figure 9.4 : Reasons for delay on leaving hospital, 2018

The most common place that people waited was on the ward, with 74 per cent of people who were delayed saying that they waited there for at least some of the time.

Arrangements for leaving hospital

Fifty-eight per cent of people agreed completely that they, or their carer, were involved in planning their discharge from hospital, with a further 27 per cent agreeing to some extent (shown as 'neither positive or negative' in the chart). Sixty-six per cent of people said that they (or their carer or someone else close to them) had all of the information needed to help care for them at home after leaving hospital; and 73 per cent said that arrangements for follow up appointments were explained in a way that they completely understood.

Of those people who were eligible for hospital transport, 77 per cent were happy with how this was arranged. This is a similar percentage to that in the 2016 survey, but lower than the 83 per cent reported for 2014.

Figure 9.5 : Summary of responses to arrangements for leaving hospital, 2018