"Discharge procedure"

The discharge procedure at royal Preston hospital needs urgent attention. My mother in law was told she could go home at 10.30 am by her consultant. We arrived at the hospital at 1.30 to be told they were waiting for her medication & discharge papers. We finally got them at 5.30! The doctor was in the coronary care ward from when we arrived & obviously knew we were waiting to go home (although we didn't know that she was the person that was writing her discharge letter). May I suggest that the consultant/doctor who decides that they can be discharged just sign a short form to confirm they can go home to be followed by the complete discharge letter they can send by post/email. This is not the first time we have experienced this & in view of the length of time it takes to actually get a bed when admitted to hospital it would make sense to speed up discharge times to make a bed available. Maybe be a good idea to follow Blackpool Victoria hospital discharge procedures who had the discharge letter ready the night before she was discharged the following morning! It certainly helps to alleviate any stress to both patient & family.