Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

News

NHS boss reveals loss of further 162 000 pieces of medical correspondence

BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j4822 (Published 17 October 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j4822

Rapid Response:

Re: NHS boss reveals loss of further 162 000 pieces of medical correspondence. A suggestion in the interests of patients (like me)

As a selfish person (perhaps unique?), may I suggest that in England, EVERY general practice and EVERY hospital should write to their patients in the following terms:

Dear Mr Smith, or Hunt or Patel

We know that despite our supremely efficient services, close to a million letters have gone missing. One or more could have been about you or to you

We suggest that you write to us (and please send a copy to your solicitor) to ask us whether any of the missing correspondence was to you or about you.

We will then know that you are interested in your health. We are so short of staff that we will not bother to contact you unless we receive a request from you.

Yours, helplessly

XYZ
Devoted servant of the State

Competing interests: No competing interests

19 October 2017
JK Anand
Retired doctor
Free spirit
Peterborough