Returning home from hospital can be a difficult time, particularly for older people. The period of preparing to be discharged from hospital to settling in back at home is called a transition. Sometimes transitions can be so difficult for people that they end up back in hospital again. It is thought that many hospital readmissions could be avoided. The aim of this research is to improve the safety and experience of care transitions for older people (age 75+).
There are six work packages in this 5 ½ NIHR funded programme of research. Each package takes us from understanding the problem and best practices around transitions, through to co-designing and refining an intervention and finally evaluating it. Our evaluation will consider whether the intervention improves the experience and safety of care for older patients during transitions and reduce unplanned hospital readmissions. Please click on the links to explore each work package and its findings.