After birth, can you discharge yourself and leave before they discharge you?

[swampwomp]

Not sure I worded that brilliantly so I’ll explain!

I need to have a c section next month but I’ve only heard not great things about the hospital I’ll be going to for after-birth care on the ward. I know working for the NHS is very difficult right now so I’m not judging the staff, who I imagine are overworked and stressed enough. However, when I gave birth before (different hospital), after being told I can go I still had to wait about 7 hours to be discharged. When I’m fit to leave hospital, do I have to wait until they discharge me or can I leave once they say I’m physically okay to go? I don’t want to stay any longer than necessary.

I was only given my painkillers and injections etc when I was discharged. That was a few years ago now though.

I think you can discharge yourself, I wouldn't advise it though because I think it could be seen as a red flag.

If you have mental capacity you can discharge yourself against medical advice. Normally have to have a conversation with a nurse or a doctor about why you are discharging against their advice and you have to sign a form

If you you are an adult with capacity, then yes, legally you can discharge yourself.

Yes you can, they won’t always make it easy but you can.

After asking to go and them giving me loads of BS about not having a doctor to sign of paperwork, after many hours i told them i was going and got up started packing….miraculously the paperwork was there before id finished packing.

i hadn’t had a c section and baby had had all newborn checks, no issues with either of us I will add though.

You might not need to stay there any longer than you want anyway. I had EMCS 2am Wednesday and they asked me if I want to go home on Thursday morning.

Of course you can discharge yourself from hospital whenever you like, it's not a prison, but after a c-section why would you want to?

How soon after are you talking @swampwomp ? 3 hours, 12 hours? 24 hours? 2-3 days?

I self discharged after my c section. And it was an "excellent" hospital.

Just to add that in my professional experience, it makes more work and stress and worry for the nurses due to the conversations and paperwork required

I didn't even think of this but it makes sense. Probably flag you up to social services. for the inconvenience of a 7 hour wait, I'd probably just wait.

Have you had a c section before? If not, then I wouldn't plan to discharge early. It is major abdominal surgey and while the vast majority are fine, occasionally there is one that is not. If they offer private rooms I would ask to have one of those and pay, and then have someone stay with you as much as possible.

It’s pretty standard that once you’re told you are being discharged they keep you waiting 8 hours while they sort paperwork and meds (which is often something as simple as a box of paracetamol). I think it’s something that you just have to prepare yourself for.

I asked to go earlier after my second birth than my first - both c sections but I was just in overnight for my second, about 16 hours. My DS2 was a big baby, feeding established straight away, felt fine once the epidural wore off.

@MrBlobbyScaresMethat’s what I thought. Also @MintTwirlthat did occur to me, so I would definitely need to wait for that!

They have a discharge lounge where you sit in a chair for hours while the nurses plough through all the paperwork to release you with meds and guidance. It’s a joke. Not enough staff. Don’t know what it’s like when you have a newborn right enough but in general it’s a ridiculously long wait.

I had sections with my 2 dcs. First one 4 day stay. Second one 2 day stay. They would have liked to keep me longer though.

it’s very hard after a c section so I would think hard about it before you make that decision.

ime they will lie and do everything to get you to stay. They knew I wanted a quick discharge. Persuaded me to wait for the newborn checks instead of having it as an outpatient was told they would do it at 7am. I chased once mid morning then at 11.30 I went through and said that if nobody came we’d be leaving at 12. The pead was then miraculously free and in my room 10 mins later 🙄

@BatchCookBabei imagine I’ll be in for 48 hours, not looking to actively leave earlier than that but I was just wondering if you could.

I know in the hospital where I had DC they like to leave the catheter in for a while and after that they like to make sure you are passing urine ok because it's surgery and something can go wrong. To be honest once you have help at home they are usually delighted to have you gone. The staff always say try to stay as long as you can to get rest and sleep especially if you have other DC as once you are home normal life takes over. I've had pre eclampsia on my DC so I had long hospital stays and I always think that's why I'd zero recovery issues as the extra days in hospital really stood to me

I was very close to doing this after my planned section a few years ago. Obviously stayed in the night of the operation. By 9pm the next evening I was absolutely sick of being on a hot, busy ward. I hadn’t been able to have a proper wash and felt horrible. I just wanted to get baby (and myself) settled in my own surroundings. I remember the nurse asking if I’d be able to cope with the pain at which was bad but manageable. I said I’d be able to cope with it as well at home as I could here and with that they let me go quite quickly. Often it’s the paperwork side of things that takes them ages. I wasn’t prepared to spend another night on that ward but thankfully they did manage to get me home that night.

Hmmmm, well that should be enough time to pick up any post section issues (praying there aren't any!) But yeah as I say, it's not a prison, and you should be able to leave when you want. (Happy to be corrected, but a lady I know had a baby by c-section last summer and discharged herself 2 days later, as she was getting cabin fever!)

It's not going to flag anything to social services 🤣
Most women who've had ELCS are usually discharged next morning. They honestly don't want to keep anyone longer than necessary it's just that unwell women/babies care takes priority over discharges sometimes. It's all a juggling act and why I hated working on the postnatal ward. I'd recommend staying to get your pain relief and blood thinners, and obv baby's checks done.

Miraculously free? No, you bullied staff into dropping what they were doing so you could get your own way because, of course, you were the most important person in the whole hospital.

And people wonder why staff give up. Perhaps you ought to look up, in detail, the causes and impact of burnout. You are a part of a community. Things do not revolve around you. People in the UK appear to be getting more and more self-centred.

P.s. Eye-rolling is rude.

If you’re ok they’ll discharge after 24 hours but you might not be ok

@PinkPrawns2I definitely wouldn’t leave until any of that is done! Good to know that they want you to go when you’re able (when it’s safe to do so obviously!) and of course I wouldn’t want to leave if there was anything that could go wrong. I just mean that if they start the discharge process at say midday and it’s still not done by 9-10pm, could you leave, that kind of thing.