The aim of this study was to determine the cause of death of those patients who died on general hospital wards after discharge from an intensive care unit. Of 1700 patients admitted over a 5-year period, 341 (20%) died in intensive care but a further 153 (9%) died on general wards. From data recorded at discharge from intensive care, 54.2% of those who died on the wards were considered at risk of death, 25.5% were expected to die but 20.3% were expected to survive. The main causes of death were pneumonia, hypoxic or structural brain damage, cerebrovascular accident, malignancy, myocardial infarction, renal or multi-organ failure and sepsis. Some of these may have been preventable with further intensive care or improved care on the wards.