Standardise all leaflets now

doi:10.1136/bmj.b975

Published 9 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b975
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b975

Letters

Breast screening

Standardise all leaflets now

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

The fact that a multitude of patient information leaflets existson all conditions may be a fundamental problem.¹

Our small district general hospital has over 55 different sourcesof patient information leaflets, each source often producingseveral different leaflets, and it produces over 170 differentpatient information leaflets. A conservative estimate of 10leaflets per source, or agency, would give over 500 differenttypes of patient information leaflets available to the generalpublic. There is likely to be some considerable overlap in theeducational content—for example, British Lung Foundationand Asthma UK, or Cancer Research and Breast Cancer UK. Thesesponsored information leaflets often coexist alongside the hospital’sown information leaflets.

In the NHS we have a duty of care to provide patients with informationand education about their condition and any procedures. Informationshould be clear, well laid out, and readable. Information leafletsshould be standardised across the NHS . . . [Full text of this article]

Ruth Talbot, FY1 doctor¹, James Williamson, ST3 general surgery¹, Alexandra Martin, consultant general surgeon¹

¹ Weston General Hospital, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset BS23 4TQ

ruthtalbot@nhs.net

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