AB216. SOH26AB_0068. Discharged but not informed: do discharge summaries for patients undergoing breast surgery include clear wound care advice?

Background: Discharge summaries are a key source of information for post-operative patients. Breast surgery patients often have wounds which require follow-up in clinic. It is estimated that with improved post-operative education, 50% of post-operative hospital readmissions may be preventable. Implementing defined wound management education for post-operative patients can reduce this statistic of hospital re-admissions, and it is something that warrants attention. We aimed to address this.

Methods: Discharge summaries of 118 post-operative patients between 01/01/2025 and 30/06/2025 were assessed for wound care advice and quality of wound care advice.

Results: Discharge advice was included on 14.4% of summaries. Safety-netting advice was included on 0% of summaries.

Conclusions: The importance of follow-up care plans and patient empowerment, post-operatively, are integral to the management of our patient. There is a great opportunity for an educational model to be devised for wound care on discharge that we have implemented within the discharge pathway for our patients, with considerable potential for hospital-wide implementation and impact.

Keywords: Breast; complications; education; post-operative; wound