Claire King started working full-time in retail and pharmacy at Boots after she finished her A-levels. There, she gained qualifications in preparing and dispensing medication before turning her focus to management, working as an assistant manager and then store manager. Claire then began work as an Advisor for CHS Healthcare to give her the opportunity to work with the public and more personalised patient centred care.
Read Claire’s account of a typical day as a CHS Hospital Discharge Advisor:
When I first arrive in the office in the morning, I review each client on database with team. We then discuss the next steps for the referral and how we can support each other to ensure the patient is able to leave hospital as soon as medically fit to do so.
Next I get in contact with the discharge nurses for each ward to discuss whether the patients are medically fit for discharge, if there are any obstructions that could delay discharge and whether there is anything CHS can do to support them. Once each referral has been looked at, I log into the hospital discharge tracker and update each patient’s ward comment to indicate their status for discharge.
Every day at 1200hrs a member from our team will then join the discharge team for a mid-day tracker meeting to discuss all the patients on the tracker and their progress towards discharge. Social services are also present at this meeting, so it is a great opportunity for networking and supporting one another with patient discharges.
In the afternoon I continue to work on referrals, updating patients and their families on discharge plans and ensuring that families feel supported throughout the discharge process.
I find working at CHS incredibly rewarding – giving support to patients and families at difficult and emotional times and allowing them to focus on spending time with each other.
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