Table 1 Swedish legislation concerning communication at hospital discharge

Requirements on collaboration between healthcare organisations [34, 35]

 1. The discharge planning should start as soon as the patient is admitted to hospital

 2. If the patient is deemed to require healthcare services from her/his primary healthcare centre or municipal healthcare after discharge, information about the hospital admission, including an estimated discharge date, should be transferred to the healthcare organisations concerned

 3. The recipients can then start planning for the provision of healthcare services after discharge

 4. As soon as the hospital physicians assess the patient as ready for discharge, the healthcare organisations concerned should be notified

 5. From that moment, the municipal healthcare organisations have three days to decide and prepare the healthcare services for which the municipality is responsible

 6. If the time limit is exceeded, the municipality concerned is charged a fee of 880 EUR per day by the regional healthcare organisation

Discharge communication requirements on the hospital [18, 36]

 • Two discharge summaries, written separately by a hospital physician (focusing on medical care) and a hospital nurse (focusing on nursing care) intended for the subsequent healthcare providers

 • A patient friendly discharge letter written by the hospital physician containing a description of the hospitalisation course, the medication changes performed (including type of changes and why they were made) and the follow-up plans for the patient and/or informal caregivers

 • An updated medication list