HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS British Journal of Psychiatry Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter View responses Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dale, J. Articles by Deshpande, N. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dale, J. Articles by Deshpande, N.

Do patients really want copies of their GP letters? A questionnaire survey of older adults and their carers

Senior House Officer in Psychiatry

^*George Tadros

Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry

Susan Adams

Clinical Psychologist

Nikhila Deshpande

Specialist Registrar in Old Age Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2QZ, UK

Declaration of interest

None.

AIMS AND METHOD

The National Health Service Plan stated that all correspondence between clinicians would be copied to patients by April 2004. We wanted to find out whether this practice reflected the true desires of their patients. A questionnaire survey was therefore performed in older adults and their carers attending a psychiatric out-patient clinic.

RESULTS

A total of 88 participants were recruited; 50 patients and 38 carers. The majority of patients and carers wanted a letter about their care but most preferred a separate, simple letter rather than a copy of the letter sent to their general practitioner.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Although this study supports the existing evidence that patients would like written information about their care, it indicates that certain patient groups might not want this in the form of copies of their medical correspondence. Further research into patient and carer preference is needed before the implementation of this policy.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. A. Tahir, J. I. Bisson, and J. Wilcox Copying clinic letters to psychiatric patients Psychiatr. Bull., September 1, 2005; 29(9): 327 - 329. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

eLetters: