Elderly patients have felt as though they are ‘pushed out the door’ during stays at Whipps Cross Hospital, to make room for others, a new report has found.

Research by Healthwatch England has heard from pensioners who have suffered unfit discharge from the Leytonstone hospital, including a man who was released at 4am in his hospital gown.

In this case, the man who lived in sheltered housing was not visited by his carers for days because nobody knew he was home.

Also, a homeless man with mental health illness and a history of substance misuse attended A&E after two months of severe weight loss.

He was told he had liver failure and then discharged with no GP, onward referral or follow up treatment planned.

Others, have suffered falls within days, or even hours, of discharge.

Over the past two years Healthwatch Waltham Forest has been collecting patient experiences relating release from the Leytonstone Hospital.

Jaime Walsh, Healthwatch Manager said: “Although there are many local people who have a positive experience of the discharge process we continue to hear from far too many that don’t.

“We are particularly concerned about older patients who often don’t feel ready to go home and for whom there is no interim measure or ‘step down’ facility in place.

“Whilst they themselves can often feel rushed out of hospital when beds are needed, family members and carers also report not feeling adequately supported or ready for the additional caring responsibilities and sometimes aren’t even told their parent/partner is being discharged.

“In some instances care packages are not put in place in a timely manner and equipment aides and home adaptations take too long to be completed, leading to safety concerns.

“There are many parts so the health and social care system that must act in a coordinated way to meet the needs of older and vulnerable patients being discharged and prevent readmission.”

A new report by Healthwatch England says in 2010/11 201,000 elderly patients had an emergency re-admission in England.

A number of schemes are in place to help residents of the borough, including Metropolitan’s ‘Home from Hospital’ service and British Red Cross ‘Next Steps’.

Also, the Better Care Together Board oversees the integration of Health and Social Care services for local people.

One of their newer projects involves the development of an ‘Integrated Discharge Team’ made up of both health and social care workers, working together for people post-discharge.

Jaime Walsh, Healthwatch Manager said: “These projects are a demonstration that the issues around discharge are being recognised and processes are being put in place to ensure improvements going forward.

“We would encourage all patients and their carers to keep Healthwatch informed of their experiences around discharge so we can keep monitoring and feeding back to those with the power to make changes and improvements”.