The Locala Community Discharge Team is made up of multi-skilled health professionals and are based in Dewsbury District Hospital, Pinderfields Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
The team’s aim is to help and support people to be discharged from hospital safely, working in partnership with Kirklees Social Care, hospital clinical teams and voluntary agencies.
The Locala Community Discharge Team has two functions:
Sometimes patients are staying in hospital when they are ready to go home or into a rehabilitation bed. It could be that the necessary care, support or accommodation is not ready for them or funding needs to be put in place. The Community Discharge Team co-ordinate discharge to prevent this happening. The benefit for the patient is that they get to right place for their onward care more quickly and for the hospital, it means patients more patients can be admitted and therefore waiting times are reduced.
The team start working with patients, families and carers early on in their stay in hospital. Along with the hospital team, assessments are carried out and a plan put in place to set some short-term goals which will help them get ready to be discharged more quickly. The team will then support patients with their discharge and transfer options which could be any of the following:
Discharge options are varied, a few are listed below:
Our Discharge to Assess team will review patients’ on a case-by-case basis and arrange the appropriate care and support from a range of Locala services, which might include
If you would like more information on the team please ring 0303 330 8999 or email [email protected].
Referrals into the Locala Community Discharge Team come direct from hospital clinical teams and Social Workers working within the hospital. We all work as a team assessing each referral to decide what is the most appropriate route for the patient with a focus on home first.
What does D2A stand for? Discharge to Assess
What is a D2A bed? A patient will be allocated a Discharge to Assess Bed when they are medically ready to leave hospital but need further assessment or support before they go to their next destination, or their destination is not ready. This will allow time for further assessment.
Where will I be seen? You may be assessed by our team in hospital or in a Discharge to Assess bed which are based in Care homes in Kirklees.
When is this service available?
8am – 8pm, 7 days a week for Discharge Support. For Therapy support and Nursing assessment within the Discharge to Assess beds, this happens Monday to Friday.
Occupational Therapists: We are here to help you get better at everyday tasks. This could be teaching you ways to wash, get dressed or feed yourself. We teach you how to use different techniques or new equipment to enable you to be more independent as possible.
Physiotherapists: Our role is to find ways to get you moving better, this may be improving how you can reach up, stand, walk or perhaps how you move from a chair to a bed. We teach exercises for flexibility, balance and strength.
Nurses: We provide care for patients suffering from a wide range of conditions. For example, we check things such as blood pressure, heart rate and skin condition, depending on what care you need and we may undertake assessments before you go to your destination.
Rehabilitation Assistants: We have multiple skills to help you follow the advice given by the nurses and therapists. We work with you to help you achieve your rehabilitation goals during your recovery.
Advanced Nurse Practitioners: We provide advice and guide you with decisions about your health. You may not need us to visit during your stay as others in our team such as our nurses and pharmacy colleagues are able to resolve many health matters. Some of these experienced colleagues are able to resolve many health matters, some of these colleagues are trained to an advanced level and are therefore qualified to do some skilled tasks that GP’s do.
Administrators: We assist Locala’s clinical colleagues and help make sure our administration processes run smoothly
Discharge Support Worker: We will contact you before you are discharged from hospital and support you with your return into the community.
