Complex care packages: supporting seamless discharge for child and family.

Nikki Stephens BSc (Hons), RGN, Dip RN child is team co-ordinator complex care and respite, Community Children’s Services, Islington PCT Navigating a discharge from hospital to home can be a protracted process fraught with difficulties for a child with complex care needs. Poorly co-ordinated planning prolongs the discharge process (Edwards et al 2004, Ludvigsen and Morrison 2003, Noyes 2002). Primary care trusts (PCTs) and hospitals do not seem to have established frameworks to help ensure a smooth transition from hospital to home for this group of children. Ludvigsen and Morrison (2003) suggest that a framework known to both the community and hospital settings would offer better co-ordination and overcome major barriers to timely discharge such as funding and housing issues, and recruitment of supporting staff (Jardine et al 1999, Noyes 2002). Lack of collaboration between services and issues of parental, medical and nursing responsibility also hinder the discharge process.