Thousands of hospital appointment letters have been reviewed by patients in a bid to make the information provided clearer and simpler to understand.

This innovative review was spearheaded by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The project was started as part of the implementation of a new electronic patient record system.

The review involved approximately 7,000 different appointment letters and successfully reduced these to 150.

The project still continues with plans to review letters in other systems used for patient correspondence across the Trust.

The team was made up of a diverse range of people involved and impacted by letters.

Patients played a key role in this team, studying existing letters and producing guidelines and rules for the new letters.

Trust Librarian, Louise Stevens, and Sarah Collier, Patient Experience Facilitator, both ardent advocates of improved health literacy and patient experience, delivered health literacy awareness sessions whilst supporting the project team with simplifying medical terminology and language.

Lynn Pickavance, a patient representative involved in the work, said: "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, echoed these sentiments, saying: "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."

Any interested patients can get involved by emailing: sath.patientexperience@nhs.net.