Chapter 3: Discharge care and planning
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Post‐procedural considerations
Every patient leaving hospital should receive a discharge summary that is completed by their clinical team, and a copy should be sent to their GP within 24 hours of the patient being discharged (NHS England [31]). This facilitates improved continuity of care as it is the primary mode of communication between the hospital care team and those who will be providing the aftercare once the patient is at home (Alper et al. [2]). The plan should include an update about the patient's clinical condition and treatment, information about medications and arrangements for follow‐up care.