A NATIONAL charity is making sure patients at a hospital can get home safely for Christmas.

The British Red Cross has launched its “assisted discharge” service, with the aim to ease pressure at hospitals.

The service is based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and will give extra support to patients settling back home before the holidays.

They hope this will leave the local NHS to provide even more care for those who need it most.

The scheme will cover the whole of Sussex and has been backed by the East Surrey and Sussex Sustainable Transformation Partnership.

Red Cross team members will meet patients as they are leaving hospital and take them home, making sure that things are comfortable there.

They can check that lights and heating are working and that the fridge is cleared and restocked.

They offer two follow-up home visits, helping with practical tasks or just offering companionship, and can also help people build more links in their communities, or find out about other organisations who can help.

Kate Drake, Red Cross Independent Living Operations Manager for the South-East, said: “We are delighted to be asked to help.

“We want to be able to make a difference to all those people coming out of hospital during the cold, dark winter months, and returning to empty homes.

“It can be such an anxious time, and it makes a huge difference to them to have someone who can make sure things are running smoothly, check they have food and fluids, or just have a regular chat about how things are going.

“This funding means that we can help take people home to East and West Sussex and to Brighton and Hove, which is great news.

“We work so well alongside the hospital team and we’re really looking forward to carrying on that partnership.”

Donna Symons, a nursing sister in the Royal Sussex County Hospital’s discharge unit, said: “When we say goodbye to vulnerable patients, it’s great to know that they will have a bit of support with that transition back to home.

“Having the team here to bring vulnerable patients home to meet relatives and carers reassures the nursing staff that their patients are in good hands.”