Discharge planning

Discharge planning begins as soon as you arrive at the hospital (this includes the emergency department).

Your health care team will help you and your family develop plans for your follow-up care after you are discharged from the hospital. Social workers can provide information on a number of community support services. If you would like to speak with someone from the social work team, ask any member of your health care team, and they will direct you to the social worker assigned to your unit.

Leaving the hospital

At Rouge Valley, patients are generally discharged between 7 and 9 a.m. (these times may vary in certain units, so please check with the unit clerk).

To ensure the best use of our resources, we ask that you arrange for transportation home prior to your date of discharge. Your bed will be used by another patient requiring hospital care, so promptness is much appreciated. Be certain to take all of your personal possessions with you.

Before leaving, please visit the business office/cashier’s office (or the registration desk in the emergency department after business hours) to pay any outstanding hospital bills. Please note that, unfortunately, Rouge Valley cannot reimburse families for taxi fares or ambulance fees to go home.

Home care services

A patient’s recovery often continues after returning home. For such patients, the local Community Care Access Centre provides home care services. These services may be arranged before discharge or after returning home.

To contact the local Community Access Centre, please use the following phone numbers:

• Durham Region: Call the Central East Community Care Access Centre at 905-430-3308 ext. 3500

• Scarborough: Call the Scarborough Community Care Access Centre at 416-750-2444

Alternative level of care

As patients are treated in the hospital, some patients become well enough that the doctor decides they can be discharged home to recover by themselves. However, many patients still need to receive care, just not the same level of care that they are getting in the health care setting where they are.

When this happens, the doctor will list the patient as requiring alternative level of care (ALC), and the care team will consult with the patient and/or the person who is making decisions on behalf of the patient to assess the appropriate care setting for them.

Alternative health care settings

At Rouge Valley, we work closely with patients and their families to prepare them to go to their next health care setting. The most appropriate health care environment for patients designated ALC could either be home with support, another unit within the hospital, or it could be a health care setting outside of the hospital.

Here are some of the different health care settings where ALC patients go:

Availability

Many times, patients cannot be transferred or discharged to other health care settings because there are no available beds. When this happens, patients will be assessed by the Community Care Access Centre to determine if it is appropriate for them to wait at home or remain at Rouge Valley until the first bed becomes available. Rouge Valley will work with you to get you to the right care setting as quickly as possible.

Costs for patients designated ALC

In Ontario, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) requires any patient of a hospital or other health facility who is in need of long-term care or complex continuing care to help pay the costs of meals and accommodation. This daily charge is called the complex continuing care (CCC) co-payment.

The CCC co-payment must be paid by all patients who require long-term care or CCC, whether they are currently in the appropriate health care setting to receive this care or they are waiting to be moved to the appropriate setting. This includes patients designated ALC who are staying in a hospital waiting to be placed in a long-term care or CCC facility. This is because patients who have been designated ALC are living as residents of the hospital.

For more details about the CCC co-payment and alternative level of care, please download our ALC patient brochure.