Discharge Information
Planning for your care needs
Planning to leave the hospital begins soon after admission. A member of your care team will speak with you about an estimated discharge date. This date is based on the expected time required to address your medical and care needs by the hospital program.
Preparing for discharge to your home or to another facility can feel confusing and overwhelming, especially at the beginning of your care journey. Your care team will work with you, your family and care partners to provide the best plan possible for your smooth transition from the hospital.
After you are admitted to the hospital, your health-care team will work with you to set care goals and plan for the day when you will leave the hospital. This is called your day of discharge.
Discharge conversations start soon after your admission. Your care team will share an estimated discharge date. This is when they expect you to get home. It helps you, your family and caregivers plan ahead and explore your options. Your care team can arrange follow-up care for you after you leave, if appropriate.
Sometimes, you may need to be moved to another unit, site or hospital during your stay. This depends on your needs and where you can best receive the care you require.
Your care team will inform you of any possible transfers. No matter which site or hospital you are transferred to, the care team will always help you prepare to leave the hospital.
Supporting your return home is a priority. We will work with you and your caregivers on a discharge plan. This plan helps you return to the place you lived before coming to the hospital. This is called the Home First approach. Ontario Health and Sinai Health have long made Home First a priority to lower patients' risk of infection, loss of function and/or harm from an unnecessary long hospital stay.
If you need care at home, Ontario Health atHome may meet with you while you are still in the hospital or contact you when you return home, depending on your needs. They will discuss your care needs and available community resources. Ask your care team for more information.
Depending on your needs, you may be eligible for Sinai Health to Home. Speak with your care team to learn if you qualify.
Once you know your anticipated day of discharge, you are expected to participate in planning. You or your care partner must arrange your own transportation home. If you need help, ask your care team for a list of phone numbers for travel options, such as an ambulance, a taxi or a wheelchair-accessible taxi.
Note: The hospital does not pay for your transportation to leave the hospital.
If your needs cannot be met at home, your care team will work with you to decide what type of facility can best provide the care you need. Care sites may include (but are not limited to):
- Inpatient rehabilitation
- A transitional care unit
- Complex continuing care
- Convalescent care
- A long-term care home
- A retirement home
- Supportive housing
- Palliative care
- Another hospital in your local community
If you are eligible for one or more of these care sites, your care team will help with your application and transfer.
If you or your loved one thinks you may need or want long-term care, speak with a care team member. The hospital and Ontario Health encourage the Home First approach. If you prefer long-term care, the hospital will connect you with the Ontario Health atHome team to discuss the process of applying to long-term care from home.
Many patients prefer to decide on long-term care from home. The Ontario Health atHome care coordinator can review options to support a return home to further discuss long-term care.
Hospitals are not homes and are not intended to provide long-term care for people who do not need a hospital setting. There is evidence that you could be at risk for physical and cognitive decline while you wait in the hospital without sufficient social and recreational engagement that can be found at home, in the community and in long-term care. You may also be at risk for hospital-based infections.
Waiting in a hospital for long-term care is possible only on an exceptional basis, when all other options and locations have been explored and deemed not appropriate. There are a number of alternative care environments in the community, called Transitional Care Units (TCUs) and Reintegration Care Units (RIUs), where patients who cannot return home to wait for long-term care can go while they wait. These options must be explored. Patients whose care needs can be met at these locations are expected to transfer there. In exceptional cases where a TCU or RIU cannot meet a patient's care needs, the hospital team will explore alternative options.
Speak with any member of your care team. They are here to support you.