Writing clinic letters in head and neck outpatient services-Are we doing what patients want?

INTRODUCTION

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have recently recommended all outpatient letters to be written directly to patients. We aimed to evaluate clinician and patient preferences for their outpatient letters from a head and neck department at a single-centre secondary care hospital.

METHODS

A multiple-choice questionnaire was designed and circulated to patients over a 2-week period. The primary outcome measure was the patient preference for the writing style. In order to evaluate existing writing styles, clinic letters were retrospectively sampled from all consultant and registrar grade otolaryngology (ENT) and oral maxillofacial (OMFS) surgeons in the department. These were analysed for readability via Flesch Reading Ease Score and audience.

RESULTS

Of all 80 included patient responses, 42 expressed a preference for letters to be written directly to the patient (52.5%). Only 5.0% (n = 4) of respondents exhibited a preference for letters to be written to their GP, with 42.5% (n = 34) of patients having no preference. All 54 surgeon letters (100%) were addressed to GPs. The average FRE score was 58.5, representing a reading level of "high school education."

DISCUSSION

When considered in the wider body of similar studies, there is convincing evidence that patients would prefer letters to be written to them rather than GPs. The authors believe that there should be a push towards patient-directed letters becoming the norm. This will improve patients' understanding of their own health and treatment decisions, allowing them to be more involved in their care and increase patient-centred consultations.