Leaving Hospital: Common Questions
Discharge: the point at which hospital care ends and whatever comes next has to already be arranged.
Last revised
Leaving Hospital: the questions people actually ask, answered from published guidance.
Key takeaways
- Discharge plan: should cover medicines, follow-up and any care needed at home
- Medicines: you should leave with a supply and written instructions
- Most useful single change: Ask which of your usual medicines have been stopped, started or changed, and why.
- Commonest mistake: Restarting old medicines that were deliberately stopped.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to get help" below apply to you.
What is Leaving Hospital?
Discharge: the point at which hospital care ends and whatever comes next has to already be arranged.
Why does it matter?
Most things that go wrong afterwards are medicines and follow-up, and both are settled in the hour before you leave.
Discharge plan for Leaving Hospital?
Should cover medicines, follow-up and any care needed at home.
Your GP for Leaving Hospital?
Receives a discharge summary, though not always immediately.
If you are not ready for Leaving Hospital?
Raise it before you leave, or contact the hospital PALS team.
What is the single most useful thing to do?
Ask which of your usual medicines have been stopped, started or changed, and why.
What is the most common mistake?
Restarting old medicines that were deliberately stopped.
When should I see a doctor?
Seek urgent help if you develop a fever, worsening pain, breathlessness, or redness and swelling at a wound or drip site after discharge. Contact the ward, your GP or 111, and 999 if it is severe.
Where to go next
- Leaving Hospital: The Quick Reference
- The Evidence on Leaving Hospital, Without the Hype
- Leaving Hospital — the reference entry
- Accessing Your Health Records: Sorting the Evidence From the Noise
- Getting Help From a Pharmacy: What the Evidence Actually Says
When to get help
Seek urgent help if you develop a fever, worsening pain, breathlessness, or redness and swelling at a wound or drip site after discharge. Contact the ward, your GP or 111, and 999 if it is severe.
Where this comes from
- NHS — Being discharged from hospital
- NICE — Transition between inpatient hospital settings and community or care home settings
How this page was put together
Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.
Medical disclaimer
This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.
