ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2026
General practice follow-up after hospital discharge in older adults: retrospective record analysis in UK primary care.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Pilot of a novel patient-led intervention for postdischarge from hospital management of older patients' care in general practice.Family medicine and community health · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMost hospital admissions are for older patients, who are more likely to be medically complex. Primary care risks after hospital discharge and readmission trajectories are relatively unexplored.
aimTo estimate the frequency and nature of errors and harms linked to discharge summary processing in general practice for patients aged ≥65 years; and to explore associations with readmission and healthcare utilisation, using a novel primary care data source. DESIGN AND
settingRetrospective cohort study using electronic health records (EHRs) from seven purposively sampled general practices in the West Midlands, UK.
methodEHRs of patients aged ≥65 years discharged between October 2022 and October 2023 were reviewed. Outcomes included post-discharge healthcare utilisation and costs, frequency and type of discharge actions, error rates (failures to complete requested actions), harms (severity, attribution, and preventability), and 90-day readmissions. Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of errors, harms, and readmission.
resultsWithin the cohort of 263 discharged patients, 186 (70.7%) accessed post-discharge care; with 47 out of the 263 patients (17.5%; 95% confidence interval = 13.7 to 23.0) having related readmissions within 90 days. In total, 551 actions were requested in 160 discharge summaries. For those patients who required an action, 20.6% experienced error and 4.4% experienced harm. Most harms resulted in hospital readmission and three out of eight were preventable in primary care. Error and harm disproportionately affected patients who had dementia or a recorded carer.
conclusionGeneral practice should review their processes for responding to patient discharge information in order to improve patient safety post-discharge. Further research into tools to assist practices with transitions is warranted.
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