I don’t understand my hospital discharge letter – what should I do?

BHF Senior Cardiac Nurse Philippa Hobson says:

A discharge summary will have been written by the doctor who was responsible for your care while you were in hospital. This is so your GP knows what tests and treatment you’ve had.

Although you are given a copy of your summary, it is written for your doctor, so it may include technical words, complicated numbers and unfamiliar abbreviations. Usually it will cover:

• test results
• information on procedures you’ve had and others that you need
• details of what follow-up appointments you should have at the hospital
• if you’ve had an operation, whether you need to see a practice nurse to have stitches removed or to check your wound
• whether you need to be referred to cardiac rehabilitation
• medication recommendations
• medications that you are being given to take home (sometimes called TTOs, short for ‘to take out’) – this is likely to be medication that you will need to take for a long time, so make sure you see your GP for a repeat prescription if required.

The nurse who gives you your medication to take home and discharges you from the ward should go through the form with you and explain what it means. If this doesn’t happen, try to make an appointment with your GP and ask if you can go through the form together.

Try not to worry too much about what is written on the discharge summary. If you are looking up some of the terms on the internet, remember that the information you find may be out of context and won’t necessarily be relevant to your situation. That’s why it’s best to talk it through with your doctor or nurse.

You can also call our Heart Helpline to speak to one of the cardiac nurses for more information.