Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aim: The Department of Health and NHS Plan both recognise that sending patients copies of clinic correspondence can help inform and empower them. At St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Endocrinology Clinic we routinely provide patients with a copy of the clinic correspondence sent to their General Practitioner (GP), unless patients specifically opt out. Our aim was to evaluate patients’ views on receiving such copy correspondence following outpatient endocrinology review.

Methods: 150 patients who had visited the endocrinology clinic were posted a questionnaire to explore their views about receiving a copy of the letter sent to their GP. Patients were asked to rate their degree of agreement, or disagreement, with nine statements regarding the advantages, or disadvantages, of receiving copy correspondence.

Results: 68 patients responded (45%). Most (94.1%) agreed that receiving a copy of the clinic letter helped them understand more about their condition and 97.1% felt more informed and involved in their care and treatment; 98.5% reported that receiving the letter helped them understand what had been conveyed to their GP regarding them, and 97.1% indicated it allowed them to check the content for accuracy. 95.6% stated it reassured them that their GP had also received the specialist’s letter, informing them when to contact their primary care team regarding any recommended treatment changes. Very few patients (7.4%) reported anxiety and distress on receiving the copy letter. Approximately 10% of patients needed to show the letter to someone else to help them understand it. Overwhelmingly, 100% of respondents stated that routinely receiving copies of correspondence was a good idea.

Conclusions: This study indicates that our endocrine patients like receiving copy correspondence of their clinic letter and reinforces existing government policy recommending this practice.