Medical cannabis during a hospital stay in Switzerland: admission to discharge

Going into hospital with prescribed cannabis? Prepare your records, clarify how your medicine will be handled and plan your treatment after discharge.

You have a hospital stay coming up and already use a cannabis medicine prescribed by a doctor. Should you bring your bottle? Who will look after it on the ward? What happens when you go home? These questions matter even when you are not having surgery. An overnight investigation or an unexpected admission also means checking your usual treatment against the hospital’s current plan. This guide helps you prepare useful information and questions; it does not decide your treatment from a distance.

Before admission: raise your existing treatment

For a planned stay, contact the service named in your admission letter. Explain that you use a prescribed cannabis medicine and ask how the details should reach the responsible medical team. Your prescribing practice can help answer questions about your treatment so far. An admissions office may help with arrangements, but it does not necessarily decide which medicines you will receive on the ward.

Distinguish a current medical prescription from a freely purchased CBD product or cannabis obtained through a pilot trial. Mention those products too, without presenting them as prescribed medicines. Admission to hospital does not change their status. This guide is about organising an existing prescribed treatment, rather than obtaining cannabis treatment for the first time.

Understand the Swiss framework for medical cannabis

What information should you prepare?

Write down the full preparation name, dosage form and stated THC and CBD content, including the units. A strain name or ‘a few drops’ does not reliably identify your treatment. Include your available medication plan or prescribing instructions, and describe how you actually use the medicine. If that differs from the written plan, say so rather than changing the record to make it appear consistent.

Record your last use if you know it reliably. Add other medicines, non-prescription products, known allergies and symptoms you have already noticed. If a concentration or quantity is uncertain, mark it as unknown and ask the dispensing pharmacy. Do not convert drops, millilitres, milligrams and percentages yourself. A legible label photo may help resolve a question, but it does not replace the documents the hospital requests.

Bringing your own medicine: agree the handover

Ask your hospital whether to bring the preparation and what packaging or supporting documents it expects. Keep the label intact and check transport arrangements if the medicine has particular storage requirements. Do not transfer it into an unlabelled container for admission. If you bring it, tell the nursing team what you have and ask how handover and storage will be recorded.

A bottle in your bedside cabinet is not an agreed treatment plan. Clarify who will organise administration and whether any self-administration has been explicitly agreed. A prescription also does not automatically permit smoking or vaping on hospital grounds. The hospital’s rules, clinical assessment and any necessary treatment changes need to be discussed together.

On the ward: work from one shared plan

At admission, your usual treatment needs to be checked against the medicines planned for your stay. Ask whether your cannabis medicine is being continued, handled differently for a time or still assessed. The current medical instructions for your admission need to be clear. Neither an earlier prescription nor this guide establishes that a particular way of using it must continue unchanged in hospital.

If you notice a difference, ask a specific question: ‘This medicine is on my usual list. What is the plan for it here?’ Tell the team about anything you have already taken yourself, so an additional dose is not given unknowingly. When moving to another ward, ask whether the updated plan has been passed on. Report new symptoms to the team rather than trying to correct them with extra medicine of your own.

Cannabis and other medicines: understanding interactions

If your preparation is unavailable or a change is proposed

Ask who will check availability with the hospital pharmacy or responsible dispensing service, and when to expect an answer. A stock problem does not itself determine which treatment is appropriate. Similar names or THC percentages do not make different preparations automatically equivalent. An agreed change needs clear instructions identifying the actual medicine and how it should be used.

If treatment is interrupted or changed, ask what will happen next and whom to tell about changes in how you feel. This guide provides no dose conversion, standard break or replacement recommendation. Do not arrange extra products through friends or a club to bypass the ward plan. If a relative is asked to bring something in, agree the arrangements with the team first.

What to do if your prescribed cannabis medicine is unavailable

Surgery, anaesthesia or an unexpected admission

If you are having a procedure, mention cannabis and CBD during the anaesthetic assessment too. Identify the preparation, your usual use and the last time you used it. Instructions about medicines and fasting come from your treating team. Do not apply a generic break found online to your prescribed treatment or change it solely because of this article.

In an emergency admission, necessary care comes first. Do not delay it to collect a bottle or paperwork. Explain what you know reliably and which details are missing. If you cannot answer yourself, available records or a reachable contact may help establish the information. That does not mean relatives automatically receive unrestricted medical information; the team needs to coordinate any exchange appropriately.

Cannabis before surgery and anaesthesia: prepare the discussion

Before discharge: understand the plan for home

Ask for a clear explanation of what stays the same, what has changed and what should no longer be used. Specifically check whether treatment paused during admission should restart. Two medication lists with different dates are not two plans to follow at the same time. If instructions conflict, have them clarified before the next affected dose or application.

Check in good time who will issue any necessary prescription, where the exact preparation can be obtained and whether your pharmacy needs advance notice. Note the practice responsible for follow-up, your next review and a contact for questions. A discharge letter does not establish stock availability or automatic reimbursement. If you handed over personal medicines, ask which will be returned and what instructions now apply to them.

When home nurses or a care home become involved, agree how administration, records and repeat supplies will be managed. Coordinate prescribed cannabis with home nursing or a care home

A preparation checklist and a way to start the conversation

Use this checklist to prepare, rather than as medical instructions. You do not need to know every clinical term. Identifying uncertainties and knowing who can answer them matters more. Ask for unfamiliar instructions to be explained, then briefly describe your understanding in your own words.

If treatment changes during the stay, brief notes about timing and how you feel can support follow-up. They do not replace the official medication plan or medical assessment. Use the communication channel provided by the hospital or practice for health information. A public community message is not a suitable way to share these details.

• Record the exact preparation, form and concentration with its units.
• Have your current plan, actual use and last known use ready.
• Include other medicines, CBD products, allergies and relevant symptoms.
• Clarify transport, packaging, handover and storage with the hospital.
• Ask which plan applies on the ward and who is responsible.
• Before discharge, clarify changes, any prescription and the next supply.
• Keep a contact for questions and details of your next review.

A message you can adapt before admission

I am due to be admitted on [date] and use the prescribed preparation [name, form, concentration and units]. My current plan is [details], and my prescribing practice is [contact]. Which records should I send? Should I bring the medicine, and who can clarify its use during my stay and the treatment plan when I leave?

Record observations for your follow-up appointment

This guide helps you prepare for a hospital stay. It does not replace individual care or your hospital’s instructions, and does not confirm availability, permission to self-administer or reimbursement.