Discharge Facilitator

The Community Discharge Assessment Team aims to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and works closely with the multi-disciplinary team, providing expertise in discharge planning and ensuring a seamless transition between hospital and community services. CDAT Discharge Facilitators are a mixture of Registered Nurses, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists.

Our main areas of work are the Emergency Department (ED), Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), and the acute assessment wards and we work in collaboration with our community services. The Community Discharge Assessment Team holistically assess patients and identify opportunities for timely discharge where the patient can be safely managed in the community and avoid an unnecessary hospital admission.

The Community Discharge Assessment Team has recently established a new therapy offering to provide tailored OT support to aid patients requiring this input in the ED, SDEC, and the acute admissions wards to facilitate discharge where an admission could be avoided and help reduce their length of stay. This therapy support enables our Discharge Facilitators with a background in Physiotherapy or Occupational Therapy to maintain their therapy skills, by conducting therapy assessments and carrying out home/environmental visits to facilitate a safe and timely discharge.

As such, we are only recruiting for applications with a registration in either Occupational Therapy (HCPC) or Physiotherapy (HCPC) on this occasion.

Discharge Facilitators use their skills to assess patients needs and work in collaboration with our community colleagues to achieve positive outcomes for the patient. The service operates a 7-day service, 365 days a year 08:00 20:00hrs (Monday-Friday) and 08:00 18:00 (Saturday Sunday & Bank Holidays).

Each morning the team has a huddle to allocate wards, ED and SDEC. The team will download a list of patients from the system (PPM+ and/or Symphony Live) to establish which patients need to be assessed. The Discharge Facilitators will then visit each patient and co-ordinate their discharge. Discharge Facilitators will be predominantly based in the area they are working that day, for example in ED or based on the acute wards. Discharge Facilitators will also attend ward MDTs to discuss patients under their caseload. CDAT are commissioned to assess patients who are 16yrs and above.

Discharge Facilitators adapt to the needs of the patient, working closely with the clinical and non-clinical teams, the patient and their families to carry out a holistic assessment and complete the appropriate documentation. Discharge Facilitators produce referrals to Neighbourhood Nursing Teams, Adult Social Care, Homeless & Housing Teams, Community Rehabilitation Beds, and Third Sector Organisations to achieve the best outcome for the individual.

Interviews will be held at St James University Hospital in Leeds. If this is a concern, please detail why and your requirements on your application.