Can I get a copy of my discharge summary?

Usually yes. Ask the ward before you leave, check your patient portal, or ask your regular doctor’s practice.

What do abbreviations like TDS, 1/52 and CXR mean?

TDS means three times a day, 1/52 means one week (6/52 is six weeks), and CXR means chest X-ray. Clariti expands abbreviations like these in plain language.

Who is responsible for follow-up after discharge?

The summary should say. Some follow-up is booked by the hospital and some is left to you or your regular doctor — if it is not clear, ask.

DISCHARGE SUMMARY

How to understand your hospital discharge summary

A discharge summary is the hospital’s record of your stay: why you were admitted, what was done, what changed with your medicines, and what should happen next. A copy usually goes to your regular doctor, and you can ask for one too.

It is written for other clinicians, so it is full of abbreviations. The parts that matter most once you are home are the medication changes and the follow-up plan.

The parts of a discharge summary

Reason for admission: Why you came into hospital, sometimes as the “presenting complaint”.
Diagnosis: What the team concluded. There may be a main diagnosis and others.
Procedures and investigations: Scans, tests and operations during the stay.
Hospital course: A short story of what happened, day by day or overall.
Medications on discharge: What to take now — often marked as new, changed, stopped or unchanged.
Follow-up: Appointments, tests or referrals to arrange, and who is responsible for each.
Advice and warning signs: What to watch for at home and when to seek help.

A worked example

An invented extract from a discharge summary. Not anyone’s real record.

On the document	Shows	In plain language
Admitted with	Community-acquired pneumonia	A chest infection caught outside hospital.
Investigations	CXR: RLL consolidation	Chest X-ray showed an area of infection in the right lower lobe of the lung.
Medications — new	Amoxicillin 500 mg TDS × 5 days	An antibiotic, three times a day for five more days.
Medications — stopped	Ibuprofen	Stopped during the stay. Ask whether to restart it.
Follow-up	GP review 1/52; repeat CXR 6/52	See your doctor in one week, and have another chest X-ray in six weeks.

The two things to act on are finishing the antibiotic course and booking both follow-ups. Check who is booking the repeat X-ray — you or the hospital.

What to check

Your medicines at home match the discharge medication list — new, changed and stopped.
You know which follow-up appointments you need to book yourself.
You understand the warning signs listed and who to call.
Your regular doctor has received a copy.

Questions worth asking

Ask your doctor or the ward

Which medicines changed, and why?
Should I restart anything that was stopped?
Who is booking my follow-up tests and appointments?
Which symptoms mean I should get help straight away?

Ask your pharmacist

How and when should I take the new medicines, and with what?
Do any of them interact with what I already take?

Got a discharge summary full of abbreviations? Attach it or paste the text, and Clariti will explain each section and what to do next.

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Common questions

Can I get a copy of my discharge summary?: Usually yes. Ask the ward before you leave, check your patient portal, or ask your regular doctor’s practice.
What do abbreviations like TDS, 1/52 and CXR mean?: TDS means three times a day, 1/52 means one week (6/52 is six weeks), and CXR means chest X-ray. Clariti expands abbreviations like these in plain language.
Who is responsible for follow-up after discharge?: The summary should say. Some follow-up is booked by the hospital and some is left to you or your regular doctor — if it is not clear, ask.