HOSPITAL bosses say they do not discharge Worcestershire patients at night unless they want to go.

Figures show 1,600 patients were discharged from county hospitals between 11pm and 6am in 2011/12, just 1.8 per cent of all discharges.

The vast majority relate to women’s and children’s services, when the patient is medically fit and often discharged at their own request or that of their family, say leaders at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, the organisation which manages Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

The figures were released to your Worcester News following an article in The Times where the newspaper submitted freedom of information requests to 170 hospital trusts, of which 100 responded.

National figures showed that 3.5 per cent of all patients were sent home overnight (239,233 patients).

Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, stepped in to warn hospitals to avoid late night discharges and said it was ‘not fair’ to send people home late at night.

We have already reported on the case of 66-year-old Margaret Heath, of Droitwich, discharged from Worcester Royal Hospital in her pyjamas last month.

Although the discharge did not take place at night her daughter, Sam Heath, aged 44, of Astwood Road, Worcester, complained she was not contacted by the trust and more generally about discharge planning.

She said: “I’m pleased that this has now been picked up nationally.”

Helen Blanchard, director of nursing and midwifery for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our policy is to ensure that patient safety remains paramount and that patients will only be discharged when they are medically fit and it is appropriate and safe to do so. Where patients return home out of hours, they are generally those who have been seen in our surgical and medical assessment units after being brought in as emergencies and who are medically fit to leave.

The trust’s policy is not to discharge patients to their home at night.

Whatever time a patient is discharged, every attempt is made to ensure that they have the means to get home safely.