# Who is responsible for follow-up after critical illness? GP, ICU and patient perspectives

## TL;DR

This study examines who should follow up with patients after critical illness, finding confusion among doctors, GPs, and patients about responsibilities.

## Contribution

The study identifies factors causing ambiguity in post-ICU follow-up responsibilities and highlights the need for consensus.

## Key findings

- There is a lack of clarity on who is responsible for follow-up care among GPs, ICU consultants, and patients.
- Ambiguity in clinical guidelines and evolving healthcare roles contribute to the confusion.
- The lack of consensus may negatively impact patient care and outcomes.

## Abstract

Critical illness is associated with a range of physical, psychological, medical and social sequalae. It is unclear from existing clinical guidance who should be responsible for follow-up of these sequalae following hospital discharge.

To explore the views of views of UK general practitioners (GPs), intensive care medicine (ICM) consultants, and patients on responsibility for follow-up care for critical illness survivors following hospital discharge.

Dual methods study based in the UK. Data were collected from UK ICM consultants, GPs and patients using online questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Analysis was informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR).

There was a lack of clarity within and between groups on who is responsible for follow-up. We identified various potential explanations for the lack of consensus including variable awareness of critical illness survivorship, ambiguity within clinical guidelines, lack of clarity on the boundaries of critical illness morbidity, evolving roles of healthcare providers, and significant workload and resource pressures within the UK healthcare system.

The experiences of healthcare professionals and patients indicate the current lack of clarity could negatively impacting patient care and outcomes. Consensus is required on how we should define the boundaries of critical illness sequalae, and which clinical groups are responsible for care across the various transitions of care experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) survivors.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13054-025-05724-w.