Writing outpatient letters to patients

In many countries (including the UK and Australia) it is still common practice for hospital doctors to write letters to patients’ general practitioners (GPs) following outpatient consultations, and for patients to receive copies of these letters. However, our experience suggests that hospital doctors who have changed their practice to include writing letters directly to patients have more patient centred consultations and experience smoother handovers with other members of their multidisciplinary teams.1 Writing letters to patients is also being used as an educational tool for improving medical students’ empathy and rapport with patients.23

A large proportion of patient complaints and litigation originate from poor communication.4 Correspondence that is delayed, not patient centred, and lacking information has been highlighted as a risk to patient safety.5 Writing prompt letters directly to patients can help reduce these risks.6

In this article, we offer practical advice on how to construct letters to be sent directly to patients, and suggest how these letters might encourage collaborative working centred on patients’ needs and wishes.

Evidence on this topic is limited but includes a small number of quality improvement studies looking at the impact of clinic doctors writing letters directly to patients or to the parents of paediatric patients, and these have consistently shown positive outcomes.

Four of us—Hugh Rayner, Nigel Mathers, Peter Rees, and Robina Shah—contributed to the 2018 guidelines on writing outpatient letters to patients for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) in the UK.7 These guidelines were based on our personal …