Patients help to review thousands of hospital letters to improve accessibility

22 July 2024

Patients have been at the heart of a review of thousands of hospital appointment letters to ensure the information is clear and simple.

Patient representatives were part of a team that reviewed and standardised all inpatient and outpatient letters at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The project was started as part of the rollout of a new electronic patient record to ensure all patient letters sent out by the Trust are accessible. As a result, around 7,000 different appointment letters were reviewed and reduced to 150, with the project still ongoing to review letters in other systems used for patient correspondence across the Trust.

The team was formed to reflect the diversity of people involved and impacted by patient letters pulling together multiple stakeholders from across the organisation to drive the change. The team included patient representatives who looked at examples of existing letters and produced guidelines and rules for the new letters.

Louise Stevens, Trust Librarian, and Sarah Collier, Patient Experience Facilitator, who are both passionate about improving health literacy and patient experience delivered health literacy awareness sessions and supported the project team with simplifying terminology and the language used in patient information.

The aim was to ensure every appointment letter was clear and simple to reduce any potential for patients to miss their appointment or be confused about the location.

Lynn Pickavance, patient representative involved in the work, said: “For the last few years, I have been working with staff on the Patient Information Panel known as PIP.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me as a patient rep to be involved in reviewing patient information. I have no NHS background so when I come across medical terms that I do not understand I speak up and by working together we look at alternative and more suitable wording.

“It is important that all of the information sent to patients is in a language that can be easily understood and gives clear instructions so that patients know exactly what is expected of them.

“With suggestions from everyone in the group, and using the health literacy tool, we quickly started to redesign the letter templates.

“As a patient I am very proud to be working with staff who are committed to improving the patient experience through patient information.”

Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing, said: “We are committed to making sure every patient has the best hospital experience and this includes making sure the information we are sharing is clear and easy to understand.

“Having our patients involved is so important to ensure their voices are heard and we are getting it right. We are very grateful for their input and enthusiasm, and to our staff who have led this project.”

The Trust recognises that patient information is an ongoing programme of work and are always looking for suggestions and ways to improve the information patients receive. Patients are welcome and encouraged to become a member of the Patient and Carer Experience Panel. If you would like to be involved, please contact sath.patientexperience@nhs.net