Supporting the rheumatology multi-disciplinary team to write directly to patients

Writing to Patients from Rheumatology is a research project that aims to support rheumatology healthcare professionals to write outpatient clinic letters directly to patients.

Healthcare professionals, like doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists, see people with rheumatology conditions in the outpatient clinic. Following the appointment, the healthcare professional will usually write a letter to summarise the clinic visit.

In the past, this letter would have been sent to the patient’s general practitioner (GP). A copy would also have been sent to the patient for their records. This approach could cause confusion for the patients as they might not have understood the complicated medical terminology included in this type of letter.

Many organisations who advise healthcare professionals on how best to communicate with patients now advise professionals to write clinic letters directly to the patients, with a copy sent to the patient’s GP. Although this approach has been encouraged for more than five years, it has yet to be widely adopted.

Our project aims to investigate and understand current patient and professional perspectives and practice on writing directly to patients. It will then work with patients and professionals to co-produce resources to support the rheumatology multi-disciplinary team to write directly to patients.

This study is funded by the British Society for Rheumatology, and sponsored by The University of Manchester.