Inform patients they can have a chosen person present when receiving information

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Please see our responses to Recommendations 1 (patient centred care), 2 (shared decision-making), 4 (patient information) and 5 (personalised information).

The NHS website has guidance and suggestions for how to get the most from your outpatients or day case visits. This includes asking someone to come to your appointment to support.

NICE guidelines set out key approaches to managing discussions with patients, supporting them to make choices in their own time. The guidelines focus on:

• encouraging people to talk about what is important to them

• understanding the principles that support shared decision making, based on an evidence-based model (for example, the three-talk model)

• communicating with people in a way they can understand, using clear language, avoiding jargon and explaining technical terms

• sharing and discussing the information people need to make informed decisions, and making sure they understand the choices available to them (including the choice of doing nothing or not changing the current plan)

• communicating with and involving family members, friends, carers, advocates or other people who the person chooses to include

The Government agreed with this recommendation.

In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health referred to a patient’s leaflet published in July 2001 encouraging patient to take someone with them to a consultation if they wished.