Early supported discharge and admission avoidance

Who is the leaflet for? What is its aim?

This leaflet is to provide patients, their family and carers with information about early supported discharge and admission avoidance.

What is Early Supported Discharge (ESD) and Admission Avoidance (AA)?

ESD is a service for patients who have been admitted to hospital with an exacerbation of their chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and have been deemed suitable to manage their exacerbation at home with the support of a team of nurses who specialise in respiratory disease. In some cases it may be deemed appropriate to manage an exacerbation at home with the teams support in order to prevent admission. This is known as admission avoidance

What are the benefits of early supported discharge and admission avoidance?

1. You can be treated in the comfort of your own home.
2. You can reduce the risk of catching an infection by not being in contact with other patients.
3. It will allow your treatment to be more tailored to your own individual needs.

How does early supported discharge and admission avoidance work?

You will have been assessed in hospital by one of the team to see if this service was suitable for you, and if necessary may have been loaned a nebuliser, or had temporary oxygen installed.

You will continue to receive treatment for your exacerbation whilst at home, with a mixture of planned visits and phone calls from the team until you have fully recovered. On average most patients will receive 2 home visits and 3 phone calls whilst on ESD

Along with helping you to recover from your exacerbation the team will also provide you with advice on how to prevent further exacerbations, and how to deal with an exacerbation should you get one in the future.

Should the team have any concerns about your condition, whilst on ESD, then can discuss your case with a respiratory consultant who specialises in COPD, and bring you back to hospital if needed.

When you are fully recovered from your exacerbation, the team will discharge you back to the care of your GP or the Community Respiratory nursing team if there is one available in your area. In some cases follow up in the Respiratory clinic may be arranged.

Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist Team

Working hours: Monday to Friday 08:00-18:00, Saturday 08:00-16:00.

Phone number: 01223 216647

If your call is not answered please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Out of working hours please call the Out of Hours GP on 111 or in a life threatening situation call 999.