Returning home from hospital

Social care teams in hospitals can advise, support and help plan for your discharge so that you can return home as soon as possible.
Older man in wheelchair and health worker

You may be able to return home from hospital independently without any additional support. 

If the ward staff think you'll need help once you get home, social care workers from Suffolk County Council can help you.

What help is available?

We can provide you with advice, information or an assessment of your care and support needs.

During an assessment, we'll review your needs to see what works best for you. We want to support you to live as independently as possible. This may be at home or other suitable accommodation.

You, your family or carer can also request a care and support assessment from us.

If you're a family carer, you can request a carers assessment of your own needs. You can do this as part of the assessment of the person you care for.

What happens after I'm discharged?

We aim to support what works best for you when you're discharged from hospital. 

We'll work closely with our NHS colleagues to find out what outcome you want, and help you achieve that outcome.  

The services we consider together for you may include: 

  • domiciliary (home) care
  • Home First care services
  • assistive technology and equipment at home
  • day care
  • residential or nursing care
  • respite care
  • direct payments

We work closely with Complex discharge planning nurses. They can assess and organise the provision of community nursing equipment.

What help is available if I can't go home yet?

We can arrange a temporary residential or nursing care bed for you on a short-term basis. This is after your discharge, while either:

  • you wait for domiciliary services to become available
  • decisions are made for your future long-term care

How much will it cost me?

The amount you might have to pay towards your care depends on your savings, income and other factors.

You can find out more about paying for care.  

More information and advice

Use the links below to find out how you can:

Give feedback or make a complaint

Adult social care

Social care for adults is provided by Suffolk County Council's Adult and Community Services (ACS) directorate. Find out how to give feedback or make a complaint about ACS. 

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Services)

You can contact PALS if you have any compliments, comments or complaints to make about the health services or treatment you received in hospital.

PALS are set up in each hospital to provide information and support to you, your family or family carer.

You can find contact details for PALS in Suffolk on Suffolk InfoLink.