Sending a copy off the letter to the general practitioner also to the parents in a child development centre: does it work?

Abstract

Following concerns that a considerable extra workload would be involved in sending a copy of the GP outpatient letter to parents following a medical consultation, 100 consecutive letters from the CDC were analysed to see if they could be sent to parents. Changes would have been necessary in 11, of which 6 would need an extra letter to the GP conveying additional specific information. Letters were generally intelligible, but it was recommended that they could be written in a more simple way for parents. Following these recommendations, copies of letters to the GP were sent to parents and the practice reviewed 2 years later. GP letters from 100 consecutive patients who had just visited the Centre were analysed and found to have been sent in 94. Of the remaining six, five were not sent because they contained information specific to the GP. It was felt that this could be rectified fairly easily. An anonymous questionnaire, sent to those receiving a copy of the letter, indicated that it had been very well received. It was felt that this policy was most helpful to the parents and justified a small additional workload.