Do’s and don’ts of emailing patients
Electronic communication can provide a useful alternate point of access for patients. Dr Richard Stacey explores the pros and cons
Email is an attractive way for patients to communicate with practices and there is no doubt that the demand for such a service will increase over time. Whilst there is no reason why GPs should not embrace this form of communication, safeguards are required in order to preserve patient confidentiality, ensure that email exchanges are saved within the correct medical records and that only appropriate matters are dealt with via email exchanges. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to act as a guide.
Do...
- Ensure that there are appropriate levels of encryption.
- Liaise with your IT provider to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place so that information on the clinical system remains secure.
- Have an automated response indicating that the email has been received. The automated response should also give an indication as to when the patient should expect to receive a reply and a recommendation that they should contact the practice directly if the matter is urgent.
- Have a system in place to monitor email enquiries at regular intervals and to ensure that they are promptly brought to the attention of the relevant person.
- Remember to respond in a professional manner and in particular avoid “textspeak”.
- Give consideration as to whether or not you wish to respond from your personal (as opposed to the practice) email address and if so you should ensure that there is a mechanism in place to deal with enquiries that arrive whilst you are on leave or away from the practice.
Don't...
Don't forget to set aside some time in the working day to respond to email enquiries
- Forget that email exchanges are an important part of a patient’s medical records and should be saved therein.
- Underestimate the amount of work that is likely to be involved in both setting up and maintaining such a system.
- Forget that many of the subtleties of communication including non-verbal cues are lost when communicating by email.
- Be tempted to use email to respond to complicated or difficult problems; if you feel that a consultation would be more appropriate, make the necessary arrangements to see the patient.
- Forget to set aside some time in the working day to respond to email enquiries.
- Forget to have robust procedures in place to follow up any matters that arise from an email exchange.