Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): hospital discharge service requirements

Sets out how health and care systems and providers should change their discharging arrangements and the provision of community support during the coronavirus situation.

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 19 March 2020
• Last updated: 13 May 2020
  Show all updates

  1. 13 May 2020

     Added 3 new documents: 'What you need to know about leaving hospital - Easy Read leaflet', 'When you leave hospital to go home - Easy Read leaflet' and 'Leaving hospital to go to a care home - Easy Read leaflet'.

  2. 20 April 2020

     Added a note to say that the guidance is being reviewed following publication of the COVID-19 adult social care action plan.

  3. 9 April 2020

     Added translated versions of patient discharge leaflets.

  4. 19 March 2020

     Added cover letter and patient information leaflets.

  5. 19 March 2020

     First published.

This publication was withdrawn on 25 August 2020

This page has been withdrawn because it’s out of date.

Read the latest hospital discharge service guidance.

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Documents

[Withdrawn] COVID-19 hospital discharge service requirements

PDF, 919 KB, 45 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email publications@dhsc.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge service requirements – cover letter

PDF, 66.2 KB, 2 pages

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet)

PDF, 111 KB, 1 page

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email publications@dhsc.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet)

ODP, 119 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] What you need to know about leaving hospital – Easy Read leaflet

PDF, 1.47 MB, 8 pages

[Withdrawn] When you leave hospital to go home – Easy Read leaflet

PDF, 2.81 MB, 10 pages

[Withdrawn] Leaving hospital to go to a care home – Easy Read leaflet

PDF, 2.88 MB, 11 pages

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Arabic

PDF, 147 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Bengali

PDF, 134 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Cantonese

PDF, 182 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – French

PDF, 102 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Gujarati

PDF, 142 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Mandarin

PDF, 178 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Polish

PDF, 123 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Portuguese

PDF, 100 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Punjabi

PDF, 131 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Spanish

PDF, 100 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Hospital discharge patient information – on entry (leaflet) – Urdu

PDF, 147 KB, 1 page

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Arabic

ODP, 139 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Bengali

ODP, 123 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Cantonese

ODP, 129 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – French

ODP, 120 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Gujarati

ODP, 135 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Mandarin

ODP, 128 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Polish

ODP, 131 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Portuguese

ODP, 131 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Punjabi

ODP, 137 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Spanish

ODP, 132 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

[Withdrawn] Your hospital discharge – on discharge (editable leaflet) – Urdu

ODP, 132 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

To meet the needs of people affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), this document sets out how all health and care systems and providers will alter their discharging arrangements and provision of community support to enable the discharge of all patients as soon as they are clinically safe to do so.

A range of virtual resources and live interactive sessions have been developed to support every sector to work through how to achieve this new way of operating. These are detailed in the document.