Improving post-operative communication between primary and secondary care: the wound closure information card

Aim To assess and improve the quality of Secondary to Primary Care communication on discharge with a focus on post-surgical wound care.

Hospital discharge summaries are the principle means of relaying accurate information back to primary care healthcare providers regarding a patient's hospital attendance and any ongoing care that is required. The quality of these summaries can be quiet varied both nationally and local to our Trust. Subsequently the Surgical Directorate were seeing an increased level of additional emergency communication from Primary Care providers especially in relation to post-operative wound care.

A survey was distributed to local Primary Care practitioners to assess satisfaction with the General Surgical Department wound care information located on the discharge summary. Using these results, a wound closure information document was developed and distributed to general practice surgeries, and a patient-held 'wound care' card was piloted for two months. The survey was then repeated to determine the success of the intervention. Findings Post discharge communication was on the whole felt to be of poor quality and lacked a large amount of essential and desirable information. There was a particular absence of relevant information regarding surgical wound closure techniques utilised and their ongoing management. Many Primary Care practitioners acknowledge that their knowledge on this subject can be low. A Trust specific information leaflet combined with a dedicated patient held discharge information card can solve a number of these issues improving Primary and Secondary Care satisfaction and reducing the use of emergency resources and appointments.