To the Editor We commend Stelfox and colleagues1 for their excellent work in evaluating the practice of directly discharging patients home from critical care. The authors clearly identified local practice and service structure as factors in ensuring safety in this less-than-ideal practice.
In this context, we would like to present results from the UK National Health Service, which provides a different perspective on the work of the authors. The UK National Health Service is in the middle of significant bed pressures, a problem exacerbated by fewer hospital and critical care bed availability when compared with the rest of the developed world.2