Leaving hospital does not always mean that you’re fully recovered. It means that you’re ready to continue your care and recovery outside of hospital, with support from:
- local community services
- other NHS services
- pharmacies
- your local council
- charities
You do not have to manage your recovery alone.
Follow-up appointments
Your hospital care team will have told you about any follow-up appointments you might have. These can be on the phone or face-to-face.
Contact your ward if you were expecting a follow-up appointment but did not get any information about it.
If your healthcare team has offered you patient initiated follow-up appointments (PIFU), you can contact them to book an appointment.
Care needs assessment
If you need support with daily tasks like cooking and cleaning, you might be able to get support from your local council. First, you’ll need to have a care needs assessment.
The needs assessment will check if you need extra help, like a paid carer, or meals delivered to your home. If you do, you’ll get a care and support plan.
You can also have a financial assessment to check if the council can help you pay for your care.
Carer’s assessment
If someone is caring for you after you leave hospital, they could have a carer’s assessment to see if they can get extra help. They can do this at the same time as your care needs assessment.
NHS continuing healthcare
If you have serious long-term health needs, you might be able to get free health and social care funded by the NHS. You’ll need to have an NHS continuing healthcare assessment to check if you can get it.
Where to get help
Urgent help
If you’re in a life-threatening emergency, call 999 or go to your nearest emergency department (A&E).
If you need urgent care and it’s not a life-threatening situation, contact NHS 111.
Your condition and treatment
If you have questions about your condition or treatment, call your ward.
Medicines
If you have questions about your medicines, call our pharmacy medicines helpline:
- Harefield Hospital: 020 7351 8901
- Royal Brompton Hospital: 020 7351 8901
Health records and results
If you want to check your health records, test results and appointment letters, use our patient app, MyChart.
Call your ward if you'd like to get this information in a different way.
Mental health support
Even if your condition is physical, recovery can affect how you feel mentally. The NHS Better Health website has advice for improving your mental health.
Concerns about your care
If you have questions or concerns about how we cared for you, contact our patient advice and liaison service (PALS):
- Harefield Hospital: 01895 826 572
- Royal Brompton Hospital: 020 7349 7715