Community nurses & discharge planning.
The role of community nurses in discharge planning for elderly patients leaving hospital is of increasing importance in the wake of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. Community nurses can play a key role in contributing to pre-discharge assessments and in providing continuing post-discharge assessment and care. The Nursing Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh conducted a survey early in 1993, just prior to implementation of the Community Care Act in Scotland, to ascertain the views and experiences of a national 1 in 3 sample of community nurses relating to the discharge of elderly people from acute hospitals. This article presents the results of that survey and offers recommendations regarding the role of community nurses in discharge planning for elderly patients.