Advice on taking small steps to ease pressure on the NHS

Meg Park, lead nurse in medicine and cardiovascular and clinical professional lead for winter, said that the region’s busy hospitals, GP surgeries and out-of-hours service need support to continue to give the best possible care and treatment.

She said: “When people need admitted to hospital, it’s important that we get them back home as early and as safely as possible, and this may mean that they continue to recover from their illness at home.

"Spending more time in hospital than necessary can lead to people quickly losing their independence, and we need to make sure that we always have beds available.

“Because of this we aim to discharge patients as soon as they are well enough, with community care and rehabilitation services if needed to support them at home. This is our ‘Discharge Without Delay’ programme.”

Once admitted to hospital, staff will work with patients and their families to agree a planned date of discharge, giving health and social care teams time to put in place any support needed.

She continued: “If you have a relative, friend or neighbour in hospital, there are some simple things you can do to help get them home as soon as possible once they are ready to be discharged.

"Unless they need specialist transport, you should pick them up from hospital and get them home safely, this will allow the ambulance service to focus on more urgent journeys.

"The earlier in the day you collect them gives our ward staff more time to make arrangements for the next patient who needs to be admitted.

“Also, you should make sure the person’s heating is on, there is plenty of food and other essentials at home and they have all the medication they need.

"Of course, if this isn’t possible, we will make sure that we get a plan in place to support you.”

Details about discharge planning can be found at www.nhsinform.scot/home-first.