West Heath Hospital Ward 12

About Ward 12

Ward 12 is a 20 bedded ward at West Heath Hospital for patients ages 18 and over. The ward is part of the Discharge to Assess (D2A) Model  using a 'home first' approach.

In accordance with the Discharge to Assess Model, our aim is to get patients to their appropriate discharge destination as soon as they are medically optimised and no longer need to be in hospital. Whilst rehabilitation begins in hospital this can be continued within the community, therefore avoiding keeping patients in hospital solely for this purpose.

 

What should patients expect when they arrive?

There is a multidisciplinary team including: Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Healthcare assistants, Domestics and Housekeepers. We are also supported with Social Workers from Birmingham City Council. There is also provision for patients to access Speech and Language Therapy, Specialist Nursing and Dietetics, based on clinical need.

 

Medical cover is available between 9 a.m. and midnight. Doctors review patients when there is a clinical need, significant change in condition, or when specialist medical input is required. Routine daily medical reviews are not usually necessary for the majority of patients. If a patient’s condition deteriorates overnight and an urgent medical assessment is required, transfer to an acute hospital may be necessary, unless it has previously been agreed that this would not be appropriate.

We also have housekeepers and domestic staff who ensure nutritional needs are catered for, and the cleanliness of the environment is maintained to a high standard. 

 

When should a patient expect to leave hospital?

It is important that, together, we start planning right away to ensure you leave hospital in a safe and timely manner. We hope you will be able to return home but if you are unable to, you will be advised about alternative care and funding arrangements. We hope that you will understand that unless we are able to discharge patients in good time, we cannot offer treatment to other people. As you will appreciate there is a huge demand on our beds and it is important we treat all our patients in a timely and effective manner. We may require you to move into an interim setting if you cannot return home and the placement of your choice is not immediately available. This may be to another ward/unit within our Trust, a hospital bed within your Local Authority if you do not reside within Birmingham or Solihull or a temporary placement.

Please feel free to ask any member of staff if you have any queries.

Hospital Discharge Patient Leaflet

 

Visiting

We encourage open visiting and only ask that you avoid mealtimes, unless you wish to assist and support your loved one during this meal service:

• 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
• 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This allows people to have their meals without interruption as nutrition is a vital part of their health, wellbeing and recovery from illness.

If you decide to visit early in the morning (08:00-10:00) please be aware that there will be limited availability of professional colleagues to respond to your queries.

For any non-urgent patient enquiries, we advise that you contact the ward after 10.00am to avoid our busy period and enable us to answer your enquiry as best as we can. 

We can only support 2 visitors per bedspace, but communal areas of the hospital are available for larger groups of people. Children are permitted to visit at your own risk but must be always supervised by an Adult.

 

Laundry

We are not able to wash personal items of clothing.  It is important that relatives/friends check regularly for washing as this will have to be taken to be washed.  Any soiled washing will be placed in red (Alginate) bags that can be placed straight into a washing machine and will dissolve during the washing cycle.