Audit to Improve Discharge Summaries as per RCP Checklist

Introduction: A discharge summary is the primary and most important way of communication between primary and secondary care. Patients when discharged should have a good discharge summary as it works as handover between hospital doctors and the community medical services.  The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has a checklist for discharge summaries which shows the amount of information that should be added in the discharge summary.

Method: 40 patient Data was collected retrospectively for patients who were discharged from Older Persons Assessment Unit (OPAU)- Morriston Hospital in August 2025. We audited the data against 9 parameters as per RCP checklist which includes the following: Main reason for admission, Is the primary diagnosis mentioned, is the secondary diagnosis mentioned, is past medical history documented, is post discharge management plan clearly documented, is it clear what is expected from the GP, are relevant investigations mentioned, is it clear why a change in the medications was made if any, is the management done in the hospital clearly documented in the discharge summary

Results: Compliance is as documented: Main reason for admission: 73.7%, past medical history: 0%, Primary diagnosis: 73.7%, Secondary diagnosis: 47.4%, Is post discharge plan clear: 60.5%, Is it clear what is expected from the GP: 52.6%, Reasons for changes in medication: 34.2%, Irrelevant investigations: 21.1%, Management done in the hospital: 55.3%

Conclusion: It is important to make a comprehensive discharge summary as it contains vital information especially for the community teams to follow up patients in the community. We aim to improve compliance by running PDSA cycles and completing a QIP.  We have emailed all clinical staff for the first intervention with the checklist to improve awareness, will then re-audit and do teaching in geriatrics teaching session and then reaudit it and present it in the hospital audit meeting.