Continuity of care is important

doi:10.1136/bmj.b1811

Published 6 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1811
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1811

Letters

"I want to see the consultant"

Continuity of care is important

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

"I want to see the consultant" is often the most practicalway for patients to state that they want continuity of careand a doctor-patient relationship based on trust.¹ Our membersmost frequently complain that, on their outpatient check-upsevery six months or annually, they have seen four differentregistrars or trainees on four consecutive visits, with theconsultant’s experience or guidance an unspoken absence.

Several years ago we established an electronic discussion group(forum), and our members now explicitly discuss the variabilityin standards of treatment at UK hospitals. More recently, someof our members use patient choice to request that their generalpractitioner refer them to larger endocrine units with moreskill in adrenal management.

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1811

Katherine G White, chair¹, Tag McEntegart, trustee¹, Deana Kenward, president¹

¹ Addison’s Disease Self-Help Group, PO Box 1083, Guildford GU1 9HX

kgwhite@addisons.org.uk

Competing interests: None declared.