Have you, or someone you support, had a delayed or difficult experience leaving hospital? If yes - we want to hear from you.

Who is this survey for?

We want to hear from people who had a difficult experience leaving hospital in the last 12 months , and from carers, relatives or friends who supported them. This could include:

  • A delay leaving hospital
  • leaving hospital before you felt ready
  • leaving before the right care, support, equipment, medication, transport, housing or follow-up arrangements were in place
  • something else made leaving hospital difficult

If leaving hospital was straightforward, this survey is not for you.

What do we mean by leaving hospital? 

By leaving hospital, also called being discharged, we mean leaving the hospital ward where the patient was being treated. This could mean going home, going to a care home, moving to a community hospital bed, or somewhere else to recover. 

How long will the survey take?

The survey should take around 10 to 15 minutes.

Your feedback will help us understand whether people are leaving hospital safely, with the information and support they need.

Before you start:

  • If you are answering about your own hospital stay, please answer based on your own experience.
  • If you are a carer, relative or friend answering about someone else, please answer based on the experience of the person who was leaving hospital wherever possible.
  • If you do not know the answer to a question, please select “Don’t know / can’t remember” rather than guessing.
  • If there has been more than one discharge in the last 12 months, please answer about the most recent one.

How will we use your data?

If you decide to answer this survey, Healthwatch England staff will use your answers to better understand the experiences of people leaving hospital. We will store your answers securely. We will take out any information that could identify you (e.g. names, locations) before we publish the survey's findings. 

We will also share anonymised data from this survey with your local Healthwatch so they can use it to support local research and help make a difference in your area.

For more information about how we use your data, please see our privacy notice.