Website of the Department of Health
Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.
Page menu
You are here:
About the Working Group on Copying Letters to Patients
-
Last modified date:9 February 2007
The initiative to copy clinicians' letters to patients is part of the government's policy to increase patients' involvement in their care and treatment, and to keep patients up-to-date about these matters.
The initiative to copy clinicians' letters to patients is part of the government's policy to increase patients' involvement in their care and treatment, and to keep patients up-to-date about these matters. Both the NHS Plan (paragraph 10.3) and the Kennedy Report of the Public Inquiry into children's heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary (Recommendation 17) refer to copying to patients letters that are written between clinicians about them. There is wide-spread support that the partnership between doctors and their patients should be improved and strengthened, and that providing better and timely information to patients is an essential element of a modern and effective health service. It is one strand in the many different ways needed to improve and enhance communications between patients and professionals in the NHS.
An informal Working Group was set up in July 2001,with the following remit:
- to provide advice to officials at the Department of Health on how best to progress this policy initiative, and
- to produce guidelines for the NHS based on work that is already going on in the field together with its members' views.
The Working Group was chaired by Barbara Meredith from Age Concern London, and its members included patients, a carer, patient group representatives, doctors, nurses, hospital records management experts, independent researchers, IT specialists, and NHS and Department of Health officials.
NHS colleagues who wish to receive advice should contact their Strategic Health Authority Patient and Public Involvement Leads or:
Sue Cartwright
Improving the Patient's Experience Programme
Department of Health
Room 5C05
Quarry House
Quarry Hill
Leeds LS2 7UE
Tel 0113 25 46092
Additional links
Copying letters to patients learning resource
This resource has been developed with contributions from over 60 NHS organisations. It presents their experiences of implementing Copying Letters to Patients.
Access keys
