Discharge Planning

Virtually every hospital struggles to provide safe discharge for patients who have no place to call home. Shelters are often at capacity and are unequipped to help clients recuperate from illnesses or injuries for which they had been hospitalized. Enter medical respite care: acute and post-acute care for persons experiencing homelessness who are too ill or frail to recover from a physical illness or injury on the streets but are not ill enough to be in a hospital. Learn more about the crucial and growing role of medical respite care; in the absence of medical respite, consider the following resources on safe discharge.

NHCHC Resources

• Tools to Help Clinicians Achieve Effective Discharge Planning | Healing Hands | October 2008
• Care Coordination | Healing Hands | July 2016
• See the section in Medical Respite Toolkit on Collaborating with Hospitals
• Hospitals, Community Care Teams, and Recuperation: Statewide Coordination to Identify, Monitor, and Care for the Homeless | Presentation at the 2015 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference
• What Every Hospital Discharge Planner Should Know About Homeless Patient Resource Connections | Presentation at the 2013 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference

Additional Resources

• UK Guidance on Discharging Homeless Hospital Patients
• Critical Time Intervention