What did we do?
The Marie Curie patient discharge project supports family carers to enable patient discharge from acute care at end-of-life by adapting an evidence-based carer assessment to acute care settings.

Why is it important?
Evidence shows that family carers are the main factor in enabling death at home and the odds of discharging patients from hospital to die at home are reduced five-fold if carers are reluctant to support discharge. However, such reluctance may often stem from a lack of preparation and information. Carers form a crucial component in the success of discharge as well as preventing re-admission to hospital.

How did we do it?
 

• Investigated the content, timing and format of support that’s required by family carers at patient discharge from acute care at end-of-life;
   
• Used findings to adapt an evidence-based carer support needs assessment tool to the acute care setting and integrated it into a plan of care to facilitate timely and appropriate patient discharge.

Who did we work with?

Marie Curie

Downloadable resources

• News Stories

  Research highlights the need to support family carers when discharging dying patients from hospital (March 2018)

   

• Publications

  Ewing G, Gibson D, Austin L, Grande G., (2018), Who cares for the carers at hospital discharge at the end of life? A qualitative study of current practice in discharge planning and the potential value of using The Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT) Approach. Palliative Medicine. Vol 32, Issue 5.

• Presentations

  Enabling successful hospital discharg to home at end of life: can a Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool help improve family support? - Gail Ewing, Lynn Austin, Debra Gibson, Gunn Grande,

   

More information
For more information please contact Michael Spence (Programme Manager)