Our hospital social work team help you live as independently as possible after leaving hospital. We work with your carers to:

• plan for you to leave hospital safely
• arrange the care you need at home

We have teams based at Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital. If you’re staying at a community hospital, we can visit you.

If you’re due to leave hospital and will need care after you leave, nursing staff will contact us for you. They will do this without your permission.

How we can help

We’ll talk about what you can do for yourself and what you need help with to live independently. This is called an assessment of needs. Your carer can be with you when we talk to you.

Short term support

Reablement is a short period of intensive support in your home. We will work with you to help you regain old skills, or develop new ones. In most cases, this is all you need to regain your independence and be able to carry on living in your own home.

Long term support

You might need long term support to help you to stay in your own home. This can include:

• occupational therapy
• care at home
• meals at home
• going to a day centre to regain skills
• rehabilitation to help you regain skills
• finding out about extra care housing or care homes if you cannot live at home

We will not charge you for an assessment of needs or any advice we give you but we may charge you for support after you leave hospital. 

Contact us

If you have any questions, call us on 0300 019 4744 for Royal Bournemouth Hospital or 01202 128 999 for Poole Hospital.