After Leaving A&E: Recovery, Follow-Up and What to Watch For

The visit does not end at the door

Leaving A&E can feel like a relief, but the period immediately after discharge is when complications can surface, medications need managing, and follow-up care needs arranging. Many patients are discharged late at night after hours of waiting, tired and stressed, and important discharge instructions can be lost in the fog.

This guide covers what to do in the hours and days after leaving A&E to ensure your recovery goes smoothly and you do not miss anything important.

Understanding your discharge information

Before you leave A&E, you should receive — either verbally or on paper — the following information:

Diagnosis or working diagnosis

What the clinicians think is wrong, or a list of what they have ruled out if the diagnosis is not yet clear. "We have ruled out a heart attack — the pain is likely musculoskeletal" is a valid discharge diagnosis. If you leave without understanding what the assessment concluded, ask before you go.

Medications

Any new medications prescribed, including:

• What they are for
• How to take them (dose, frequency, with or without food)
• How long to take them
• Common side effects to be aware of
• Whether they interact with anything you already take

If you were given a prescription to fill, find out whether you need to collect it from the hospital pharmacy (which may have limited hours) or whether your local pharmacy can dispense it. If the hospital pharmacy is closed, ask whether the medication is urgent enough that you need to find a 24-hour pharmacy tonight.

Safety-net advice

This is the most critical part of your discharge information. It tells you what symptoms should prompt a return to A&E or a call to your GP. Examples:

• "Return immediately if you develop chest pain, breathlessness or calf swelling"
• "Come back if the headache gets worse, you vomit, or you become drowsy"
• "See your GP within 48 hours if the pain does not improve"

Write these down or ask for them on paper. In the stress and tiredness of discharge, verbal safety-net advice is frequently forgotten.

Follow-up arrangements

Many A&E visits generate follow-up actions:

• Fracture clinic — typically within 5–7 days for musculoskeletal injuries. The appointment is usually booked before you leave, or you receive instructions to call a number to arrange it. Our fractures guide covers what to expect at the fracture clinic.
• GP review — you may be asked to see your GP within a specific timeframe for blood results, medication review, sick notes, or ongoing management.
• Outpatient clinic — referrals to specialists (cardiology, neurology, surgery) are sometimes arranged from A&E. You should receive an appointment by post or phone within a few weeks.
• District nurse — for wound care, dressing changes, or injections at home.
• Crisis team — for mental health presentations, the crisis team should contact you within 24 hours. If they do not, chase this up — see our mental health crisis guide.

The first 24 hours

Rest

Your body has been through a stressful experience — the injury or illness that brought you to A&E, hours in a clinical environment, possibly investigations and treatment. Rest is not optional. Cancel work or social commitments for at least the next day.

Hydration and nutrition

Many patients eat and drink poorly during their A&E visit. Rehydrate and eat a proper meal as soon as you get home, unless you have been given nil-by-mouth instructions. If you are on new medications, eating helps reduce stomach irritation.

Pain management

If you were given pain relief in A&E, find out when you can take your next dose at home. Over-treatment and under-treatment are both risks:

• Do not double up on paracetamol — the maximum adult dose is 4 g per day (eight 500 mg tablets), and liver damage from accidental overdose is more common than most people realise
• Do not take ibuprofen if you were told to avoid anti-inflammatories (certain head injuries, certain stomach conditions, some post-operative instructions)
• If you were given codeine or another opioid, be aware of drowsiness and constipation

Monitoring

Follow the safety-net advice you were given. Set alarms to check in with yourself (or the patient, if you are a carer) at regular intervals. For head injuries, this means waking the person every 2–3 hours overnight — see our head injury guide.

The first week

Contact your GP

Even if no specific GP follow-up was requested, it is good practice to contact your GP surgery within a few days to let them know you attended A&E. The hospital sends a discharge summary to your GP, but this can take several days to arrive and process. A phone call or message through the patient portal ensures your GP knows about:

• Any new diagnoses
• Any new medications
• Any pending investigations or referrals
• Any changes to your existing medications

This is particularly important if you were started on antibiotics, blood thinners, or psychiatric medication, or if your existing medications were stopped or changed.

Wound care

If you had a wound closed (stitches, glue, strips):

• Keep it clean and dry for the first 48 hours (unless told otherwise)
• Do not pick at stitches or glue
• Watch for signs of infection: increasing redness spreading from the wound, swelling, warmth, pus, increasing pain, fever
• Stitches are usually removed after 5–14 days depending on location — you should have been told when and where (GP practice nurse, or return to A&E/UTC)

Sick notes

If you need a sick note (fit note) for your employer, A&E can issue one for the day of your visit. For ongoing time off, you will need to see your GP, who can issue fit notes for longer periods.

When to return to A&E

Go back to A&E if:

• Any of the safety-net symptoms you were told about develop
• Your condition is getting worse rather than better
• You develop a new, concerning symptom related to the original problem
• You have a reaction to a new medication (severe rash, breathing difficulty, significant swelling)
• You are unable to keep down oral medications (vomiting within an hour of taking them repeatedly)

You do not need a referral or permission to return to A&E. If something feels wrong, it is always better to be reassessed than to wait and hope for the better.

When to see your GP instead

See your GP rather than returning to A&E for:

• Questions about your diagnosis or treatment that are not urgent
• Medication side effects that are uncomfortable but not dangerous
• Ongoing pain management
• Sick notes after the first day
• Mental health follow-up that is not a crisis
• Test results that were pending at discharge (the GP receives these)
• Referrals to specialists that were not arranged in A&E

Accessing your records

You have the right to see your A&E records, including clinical notes, test results and discharge information. This is covered under data protection law. Make a Subject Access Request to the hospital's medical records department. Our patient rights guide explains this in detail.

Having your records is useful for:

• Understanding exactly what tests were done and what the results showed
• Providing accurate information to specialists at follow-up appointments
• Insurance claims or personal injury processes
• Peace of mind — understanding what happened during a stressful and sometimes confusing experience

Emotional recovery

An A&E visit can be emotionally as well as physically draining. It is normal to feel anxious, tearful, irritable or exhausted in the days afterwards. If you witnessed distressing scenes in the department, or if your own experience was frightening, these feelings may be more intense. Talk to someone you trust about how you are feeling.

If emotional distress persists beyond a couple of weeks, or if it is interfering with daily life, speak to your GP about support. This is not weakness — it is a normal response to a stressful experience.

When to return to A&E

The most important reason to return is if a safety-net symptom appears — one that your discharge advice specifically told you to watch for. Other reasons to go back include worsening pain that is not controlled by your prescribed medication, a wound that becomes red, swollen, hot or starts leaking fluid, a high temperature that develops after your visit, or any symptom that feels significantly different from what you were told to expect. Do not worry about being seen as a time-waster — clinicians would far rather reassess you than have you deteriorate at home.

Bottom line

The critical actions after leaving A&E are: understand your discharge advice, especially the safety-net symptoms; take prescribed medications correctly; attend all follow-up appointments; and contact your GP within a few days. If something feels wrong, go back to A&E — no one will judge you for returning. Check live wait times to choose the quietest department if your return is not immediately urgent. For ongoing care questions, your GP is your best point of contact.