In North Lanarkshire we want to support people through the discharge process so they can get home as quickly and safely as possible.
The safest place for a person to recover once clinically fit to leave hospital is in their own home. We want to discharge people as safely and as quickly as possible, so they are in familiar surroundings in their own communities.
Importantly, patients will only ever be discharged when it is clinically safe for them to leave hospital.
To help people return to their own home, unpaid carers can be provided with a one-off payment of £1000. This is instead of paid support and is intended to meet the additional financial costs of supporting recovery at home.
The person being cared for can return to their own home or to the unpaid carer’s home if they live at different addresses. This option will be discussed with both the person being cared for and the unpaid carer, and agreed through the Discharge Hub within hospital or Planned Date of Discharge (PDD) meetings.
This payment is intended to offset any additional costs such as transport, specialised food or additional heating that result from supporting the person being cared for at home.