Copy them in

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2324

Published 4 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2324
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2324

Observations

Border Crossing

Copy them in

Tessa Richards, assistant editor, BMJ

trichards@bmj.com

We need to increase the public’s health literacy, androutinely copying patients into medical correspondence willfoster this

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

When reorganising health services becomes an Olympic sport,Team GB is sure to do well. Our politicians’ enthusiasmfor change seems unrivalled. The only problem I foresee is theirtendency to promise more than they deliver. Take the 2000 NHSPlan, for example. This included two pledges to provide patientswith more information. The first stated: "Letters between cliniciansabout an individual patient’s care will be copied to thepatient as of right." The second: "Patients will be providedwith smart cards to allow easy access to their medical records."

Eight years on, in a threatening economic climate, the unedifyingsaga of Connecting for Health, the NHS’s £12bn ( ${euro}$ 15bn;$20bn) computerised records system, continues. Recent concerns—raisedby a review of the programme (www1.imperial.ac.uk/resources/4565EF18-662B-448B-90C2-E7372B4C2E09/)and "live" experience with smart cards in one NHS trust—havecentred on its potential to put patients at risk of iatrogenicharm. Now its . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

McKinstry, B. (2008). Copying patients in is not as simple as it seems. BMJ 337: a2687-a2687 [Full text]
Main, J. (2008). Copying in or copping out?. BMJ 337: a2688-a2688 [Full text]
Shee, C. D (2008). Try it and see. BMJ 337: a2786-a2786 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Copying them in... the after-effects: Sukhpal S Gill, et al.
bmj.com, 6 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Letters as a record of clinic appointments or for Communication: Tom Holdsworth
bmj.com, 7 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Copying them in is not as simple as it seems: Brian McKinstry, et al.
bmj.com, 12 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Write to the patient and send the copy to the GP: Hugh C Rayner, et al.
bmj.com, 11 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Copying letters to patients: Judith H Harvey
bmj.com, 11 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Letters can injure your health, too.: peter j mahaffey
bmj.com, 12 Nov 2008 [Full text]
copy to GP, copy to patient....: David G Samuel
bmj.com, 12 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Copying them in or copping out?: John Main
bmj.com, 14 Nov 2008 [Full text]
Copying clinical letters to parents:See one-copy one !: Sahana Rao, et al.
bmj.com, 19 Nov 2008 [Full text]
copy them in: charles d shee
bmj.com, 25 Nov 2008 [Full text]