Discharge coordinator: what the job involves

A discharge coordinator organises everything a patient needs before they can leave hospital: transport, equipment, care at home, a care home place or a referral to community services. In NHS England the job is usually on Agenda for Change band 4, 5 or 6, which is £28,392 to £48,117 for full-time staff from 1 April 2026. The lower bands are often open to people without a clinical registration. Band 6 posts usually want a registered nurse or allied health professional.

A typical day on the job

Most coordinators start with the ward board or the bed meeting, going through which patients are expected to go home today or tomorrow and what is holding each one up. A patient may be medically fit but waiting for a package of care, a hoist delivered to the house, a district nurse visit, or a family member to agree to a plan. The coordinator chases each of these.

The work is mostly phone calls, emails, referrals and record-keeping, with time on the wards talking to patients, relatives and nursing staff. Typical tasks include:

• tracking patients who are medically ready to leave and recording the reasons for any delay
• making referrals to social care, community nursing, therapy and equipment services
• booking patient transport and checking that medicines, letters and equipment are ready
• talking families through the plan and what will happen after discharge
• reporting delayed discharge figures to the trust’s patient flow or operations team

Some trusts run a central discharge hub or transfer of care hub covering the whole hospital, and others attach coordinators to particular wards or specialties such as frailty, stroke or orthopaedics.

Working with social care

A large part of the job sits on the line between the NHS and the council. When a patient will need care and support after leaving, the council’s adult social care team has duties under the Care Act 2014 to assess their needs. Coordinators send those referrals, share information, and work alongside hospital social workers and council brokerage teams who find home care or care home places.

Guidance in England now pushes a “discharge to assess” model. People who no longer need an acute bed should leave hospital as soon as it is safe, with longer-term needs assessed at home or in a community setting. Government guidance on hospital discharge and community support sets out how the NHS and councils are expected to work together. For coordinators this means knowing the local pathways: who goes home with no extra help, who goes home with short-term reablement, who needs a community bed, and who needs a care home.

You will also come across assessments for NHS continuing healthcare, which can fund care for people whose needs are mainly health needs. Coordinators often complete or chase the initial checklist and make sure the right people are involved. Disagreements about funding or placements are common and can hold up a discharge for days.

Hospital social workers do the formal Care Act assessments; the coordinator does not. The adult social worker guide explains that side of the process.

Bands and pay

Band	Who it usually covers	England pay from 1 April 2026 (full-time)
4	Discharge coordinator or patient flow coordinator, non-registered	£28,392 to £31,157
5	Newly registered nurse or therapist in a discharge team, or senior non-registered coordinator in some trusts	£32,073 to £39,043
6	Discharge liaison nurse, senior coordinator, team lead	£39,959 to £48,117

These figures follow the 3.3 per cent Agenda for Change award for 2026/27. Band 4 has an entry point and a top point you reach after three years. Bands 5 and 6 have three points. The band 4 and band 6 guides set out every step.

In Scotland the 2026/27 rates are higher: band 4 is £31,492 to £34,254, band 5 is £34,494 to £42,977 and band 6 is £43,169 to £52,603. In London, the high cost area supplement is added on top of basic pay.

Most discharge coordinators work weekdays, with some trusts adding weekend cover as they try to keep discharges going seven days a week. Weekend and evening shifts carry unsocial hours payments. NHS staff start on 27 days’ annual leave plus eight public holidays, rising to 29 days after five years and 33 after ten. Your take-home pay depends on your band point, pension contribution and any student loan.

Who gets these jobs

There are two main routes in. The first is from a non-clinical or support role. Experienced healthcare assistants, ward clerks and NHS administrators move into band 4 coordinator posts because they already know how wards and referrals work. Adverts at this level usually ask for good organisation, confidence on the phone, accurate record-keeping and knowledge of how the NHS and social care fit together. A level 3 qualification or equivalent experience is often listed as essential.

The second is from a registered profession. Nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists move into discharge roles at band 6, and some at band 7 as discharge or patient flow leads. A registered nurse in the role will often carry out clinical checks on whether a patient is safe to leave, and can advise ward teams on complex cases.

Either way, the job comes with pressure. When the emergency department is full, the hospital needs beds, and much of that pressure falls on the discharge team.

The difficult parts

Gaps in health and social care show up most clearly at discharge. You will see patients who are well enough to leave but stuck because no home care is available, and you may be the person explaining that to an anxious family. You will also see the opposite: relatives who feel a discharge is too quick.

The job asks you to hold your ground with colleagues too. Wards may push to discharge before everything is ready, and a coordinator who spots a missing piece (no key safe, no carer for the first evening, a hoist that has not arrived) has to say so. Unsafe discharges lead to readmissions and complaints, and the discharge team’s notes are often what gets examined afterwards. Keeping a record of what was agreed, with whom and when, protects you.

Applying

Discharge coordinator jobs are advertised on NHS Jobs and trust websites, usually under titles like discharge coordinator, patient flow coordinator, transfer of care coordinator or discharge liaison nurse. Read the person specification closely, as band 4 and band 6 roles with similar titles can ask for very different things. Use the supporting statement to show you understand delayed discharges, referrals to social care and working with families under pressure; the guide to the NHS supporting statement explains how statements are scored.

Expect an enhanced DBS check, references and an occupational health questionnaire before you start.