Writing to patients from rheumatology
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Supporting the rheumatology multidisciplinary team to write directly to patients
IRAS ID
339243
Contact name
Charlotte Sharp
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
144474, The University of Manchester Data Management Plan (DMP) ID
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Clinic letters are written by healthcare professionals (HCPs). These letters summarise outpatient appointments. Clinic letters are usually written to patients’ General Practitioners (GPs). Twenty years ago, the NHS advised HCPs to send copies of clinic letters to patients. Now, recent guidance advises HCPs to write clinic letters directly to patients and send a copy to their GP. However, this does not seem to happen often.
When writing to GPs, HCPs use complex medical terms. When writing to patients, HCPs should instead use common, everyday terms so the letters are easier to understand. Writing directly to patients can help improve patient understanding of their condition and treatment, support shared decision-making, and reduce work for GPs who might be asked to ‘translate’ clinic letters written to them.
This study will focus on rheumatology. We aim to find out about HCPs current clinic letter writing practice and to understand patients’ and HCPs’ views on clinic letters being written directly to patients. We will then create helpful resources for HCPs and patients to use.
Over 12 months, adult rheumatology outpatients and rheumatology HCPs will be invited to take part in:
1) A one-off survey (>150 patients and >100 HCPs).
2) A single interview or focus group (20 patients and 20 HCPs).
3) A series of eight workshops (4 patients and 4 HCPs per workshop).In the workshops, we will discuss the results of the surveys, interviews and focus groups, and work together to create resources to support HCPs to write directly to patients, and to support patients to access and understand their clinic letters.
Participants will be recruited from across the United Kingdom via rheumatology outpatient clinics, local and national networks, newsletters and social media.
This research is funded by the British Society for Rheumatology. For more information, please visit the study website: https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/writing-to-rheumatology-patients/
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
24/NI/0063
Date of REC Opinion
7 May 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion