My mother wants to leave hospital,but she is scared of getting into trouble.

[Sentmeamonkey]

Is there anything illegal about my MIL wanting to discharge herself from hospital.
My MIL wants to discharge herself home from hospital, my SIL and I have said we will support her decision, but she is scared we will get done for abduction or something along those lines.She is of sound mind, she is there for physio etc etc.She does not need nursing care, the only medication she takes is blood pressure tablets( 1 per day)
But the care she is receiving is not very good, the staff are stretched so they just don't have the time.
I could write a lengthy piece, but I won't.

I am no expert but I would imagine it would not be classed as abduction as she is of sound mind. If she is having physio is she able to mobilise independently? As in will she have better support at home than hospital ?

She absolutely has the right to discharge herself from hospital. She might have a capacity assessment for the decision first - but maybe not if there is no reason to think she doesn't have capacity.

The consultant may come and see her and may try to persuade her to stay but it is her choice.

No it's not illegal in the UK(couldn't vouch for any other country)I've done the same myself a few times now because of the lack of care and I never got into any trouble and I'm registered disabled.

If she's not been assessed and deemed to lack capacity, she can do as she pleases.

Has she asked to be discharged though? Sounds like she doesn't actually need to be there.

I've discharged myself from hospital when I was quite seriously ill (but recovering) because the standard of care was awful. I had to sign a form to say I was doing so against medical advice, then I just got handed a bag of tablets and off I went.

She is within her rights to discharge against medical advice. As long as the hospital are happy she is of sound mind she signs to say she wants to leave against advice, there is nothing wrong with that no one will get into trouble. She can't just leave though! Can you or your sister in law sit down with the Drs and discuss things though as community physio and rehab service can be very difficult to access and I don't know if self discharge if effects that or not but the situation might be more complex than it seems

Unless she is detained under the mental health act, she can discharge herself against medical advice as long as she has capacity and will need to sign to say she understands this and risks associated x

But she should leave in a planned way rather than absconding otherwise they may put a safeguarding alert in if there are risks to her physical health

It's entirely legal to do this, the only time they would stop you/her is if she was assessed as lacking capacity to make the decision because of dementia, mental illness or similar. Might be more complex if they decided she could not cope at home and were looking to discharge to a care home

If she asks to discharge herself they may try and strongly persuade her to stay until they do x y z but as long as she is certain they should give her a form to sign. Knowing there is family help is a positive. Just ask about it and explain that you could take her for outpatients physio. It sounds like she has great support

Has anyone spoken to the Pals service about her care?

If she doesn't need nursing care I am surprised she is still in hospital. Beds are like gold dust and to keep someone in just for physio (especially if that can be done by herself at home, or with community physio) is unusual. Are you sure you know the full picture? You say the care she is receiving is not very good, but then say she doesn't need any nursing care. Slightly contradictory.

Of course she can discharge herself - its not illegal but ideally she should do it "properly" - if she just buggers off they may panic and call the police!

Thanks for all your responses, its like a rehabilitation ward, 3 doctors have said they are happy for her to go home it's the physio and occupational therapist holding her up. Yesterday they told her they would do a home visit with her today if they were happy they would bring her back to hospital then discharge her. Today arrived and they came to tell her sorry not today tomorrow and if it's not tomorrow Monday/Tuesday next week. Then at teatime sorry it's not happening now til next Friday. By not good care I mean She is not getting clean underwear everyday, she is not brushing her teeth til teatime. When she asks for assistance to go toilet, is told I will be with you in a minute, an hour later she may get to the toilet.She has everything she needs at home commode,wheelchair, massage recliner chair, TV wifi Both my SIL and I can, and will care for her at home. I just feel like we can look after her better at home. She sits in the chair at hospital from the minute she wakes til bedtime no stimulation, just a 1950s cd playing on loop! Thanks again.

Sounds like she is in a catch 22, not unsafe on the ward so low priority, but flagged as needing assessment.

Tbh I would just be there for the ward round if you can (try 8am? ) and inform the team of her decision. Ask ptarmigan and other to refer to theiron community teams if they are concerned but tbh they will probably just ring up and check if she is doing OK.

I agree she should get home, she's at risk of picking up an infection the longer she stays in.

Physio and ot not ptarmigan!

'Sprung' my Dad from this sort of rehab ward.
Not much resistance, and no consequences. Only problem, the ward staff just handed over his meds, declined to give dose/frequency. Get this info from bed clipboard yourself.

Fortunately, friendly and cooperative physio took him to their room, so he could prove to us and them that he could eg, get out of bed by himself, as I knew I could not lift him at home. Once this was done, and the curmudgeonly old bugger agreed to use a walker for safety reasons, I knew we were good to go, and I commandeered a wheelchair, and we left.
Go for it, if hospital's not helping them recover, provided it's safe, home is the place to be.
I lost a job over taking too much time off, but hey, not that important.

assuming she is not in hospital detained under the mental health act she cant be kept in hospital if she doesnt want to be there ,she may be asked to sign a form saying she has discharged herself against medical advice.

the ward staff just handed over his meds, declined to give dose/frequency.

They actually handed over medication and said they wouldn't tell him how much he should be on?!

Yeah, that's exactly what they did.
GPs jaw dropped the next day on hearing this.
Nurse in charge's line was' if you take him home against medical advice, I don't have any discharge advice for you'.
BTW, at this point he wasn't being actively treated, just on usual longterm meds.

Yes, just let her (not you) say she is leaving at 4pm today for example or 9am today. We did this after baby 5 was born and they could not find a doctor to release us despite all being well. I just said okay we are leaving at 9pm, we have 2 other children here visiting who have to be up for school tomorrow.

They then found a doctor to sign the discharge but I would have left even if they had not as that was my legal right.