Discharge planning in A & E: part 2

Discharge of patients from A & E was considered by both the 1992 and 1996 Audit Commission reports. The 1992 Commission recommended that unnecessary return attendance for follow-up care should be reduced to a minimum, those requiring to make a return visit falling within the range of 10-15% of first attendances. Other hospital specialties, GP services and self care were identified as appropriate follow-up treatment. This places more emphasis on appropriate discharge advice for those who do not need to reattend, and this is an aspect of health promotion which largely goes unrecognized. The second part of this study explores how effectively A & E departments perform the role of giving appropriate discharge advice. Part I of the study, published in October 1997, covered the comprehensive discharge planning required for patients who belong to vulnerable groups and who commonly reattend.