The Letter..

[Jemisa]

Is this a new practice of sending the letter to the patient.?
Twice in recent months I have been sent to see a consultant at the local hospital, a couple of weeks later I get the letter from the hospital which in the past would have been sent to my doctor, with the results of the tests in full.
I then take it to my doctor. I never have experienced this before, is it in other places too or is it depending what Trust you belong to? Sometimes its a bit worrying to see all those long words in the diagnosis.
Is it the practice in your area too?

jem.

[tillyh345]

I believe that they also send a copy to your Doctor...

[mollykins]

When i go see my specialist in Cambridge, they always send a letter with updates to my gp(who i don't know at the moment as my old one retired a few months ago and since i've jsut had cover doctors) but also us.

[chokkie]

There's the Choose & Book system of hospital appointments now, which tries to ensure that patients get a convenient appointment (to them), but I don't think it always works. Imagine if you, say, have an important commitment on a Tuesday morning, and your consultant only does clinics on a Tuesday morning .... Well, I know you can ditch your Tuesday commitment for once, but it's difficult for some people.

Anyway, patients do now get copies of letters that a hospital doctor sends to the GP, with all the details. I do agree it can be scary, with all those long words and medical terminology, but where I work, the patient gets a completely separate letter with all the scary bits taken out.

[mike11111]

I have had this recently. It is a copy of the letter sent to your GP. I found it very helpful, if rather technical in places.

[Jemisa]

I didn't know they sent a letter to the docs too. I took my letters to the surgery and the receptionisr seemed to readily accept them.

jem

[chokkie]

I broke my ankle about 8 weeks ago and when I went for a follow-up appt the doc I saw said I would probably need a DVT injection from my GP in advance of flying abroad at the beginning of July. Anyway, spoke to the GP on the phone and she said that she hadn't even heard from the clinic about my latest clinic appt and knew nothing about the fact that this hadbeen recommended. Not unreasonably, she was reluctant to give me this injection without seeing any correspondence from the hospital. Trouble is, there are so many letters to write from any one clinic that it can take forever for a letter to get to your GP. And I should know, I'm a medical secretary and there are always heaps of letters that need to be typed and sent out!

[boxtops]

Roll on the electronic summary record, patients' records will be able to be seen on a central database by all entitlted to see them. Yes Jem, OH had this, the consultant sent the discharge letter to the GP with a copy to OH so he knew what was being said.

[burbie]

When you first go to see the consultant you are usually asked by the receptionist if you want a copy of the letter that is sent to your GP stating the results of your hospital visit.
You can agree or say no. If you werent asked then maybe they now send them to all patients.