About Early Supported Discharge

 

Organised inpatient care in a stroke unit is effective in reducing death and disability (Stroke Unit Trialists Collaboration, 2007) but.....

• Are there effective alternatives to inpatient care?
• How can care be best provided after discharge?

An alternative may be to develop services that can accelerate discharge from hospital. Such schemes are known as (Fearon et al., 2012):

• Early supported discharge schemes (ESD)
• Early home supported discharge services
• Accelerated discharge schemes
• Post-discharge support services

ESD services aim to:

• Accelerate discharge to home from hospital and provide rehabilitation/support in the home setting
• "Provide a seamless transfer of care from hospital to home and give stroke patients the opportunity to continue rehabilitation and be supported in their own surroundings with input from a specialist ESD team [Rodgers, 2008]" (Moule, 2011)