Fiducia TogetherDeep vein thrombosis
Also called DVT, Blood clot, Pulmonary embolism, VTE
A clot in a deep vein, usually the leg. If it travels to the lungs it kills. Largely preventable in hospital and care.
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.
What it is
Venous thromboembolism causes an estimated 25,000 preventable deaths a year in hospitals in England. Preventable is the operative word.
A deep vein thrombosis is a clot in a deep vein, most often in the calf or thigh. If part of it breaks off and travels to the lungs, that is a pulmonary embolism, and it can kill within minutes.
Risk rises with immobility, surgery, cancer, pregnancy, dehydration, long journeys, some hormonal treatments, and previous clots. Almost every one of those is common in the populations social care supports.
Signs you might notice
In the leg: pain or aching, usually in the calf, swelling of one leg, warmth, and skin that is red or discoloured.
Crucially, it can affect the whole leg rather than a spot, and swelling on one side only is the pointer.
In the lungs: sudden breathlessness, sharp chest pain worse on breathing in, coughing up blood, a racing heart, and collapse. That is a 999 call.
In somebody who cannot report symptoms, look for one leg larger than the other, and for new distress on being moved.
How it can affect day-to-day life
Prevention is almost entirely about movement, hydration and assessment. Every hospital admission should include a VTE risk assessment, and in care settings a period of reduced mobility should prompt the same thinking.
Anticoagulation after a clot brings its own management: bleeding risk, interactions, and, with warfarin, INR monitoring.
Post-thrombotic syndrome affects a meaningful proportion of people after a DVT: chronic swelling, aching and skin changes, sometimes ulceration.
Supporting someone well
Keep people moving and hydrated, especially after illness, surgery or a period in bed. This is the whole of prevention.
Measure both calves if you suspect a DVT. Asymmetry is the useful sign.
Use prescribed compression stockings correctly, and check they are not rolled down, which turns them into a tourniquet.
Never massage a suspected DVT.
Support anticoagulation carefully: same time daily, no missed doses, and a plan for what to do about bleeding or a fall. Check any new medicine for interactions.
In a service, record a change in leg size or new one-sided swelling as a clinical observation and escalate it. Fiducia Together keeps those observations in the clinical record where a nurse reviewing them can act.
Where to get help
Suspected DVT needs same-day assessment. Call 111 or the GP urgently.
Suspected pulmonary embolism needs 999.
Thrombosis UK provide patient information and campaign on preventable hospital-acquired clots.
Tools we make that might help
These are our own products. We have put them here because they do something specific for this condition, not because every page needs a list.
Fiducia Together
Observations in the clinical record, so new one-sided swelling reaches a nurse rather than a shift note.
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.