A survey of general dental practitioners' opinions of response letters received from hospital specialists following a referred patient's first appointment.
OBJECTIVE
To discover what dentists require of a hospital response letter with regards to content and timeliness.


METHODS
Postal survey.


METHODS
South Wales.


METHODS
A postal questionnaire was issued to all dentists (n = 256) who had referred a patient to the dental hospital between 1 January 2003 and 1 March 2003.


RESULTS
The response rate was 60.2% (154). The preferred time frame for the receipt of a letter following a patient's appointment was one to three weeks for 96.4% (n = 133) of respondents, but 58.4% believed that they currently do not receive responses within this time frame. The preferred method of communication remained the letter (n = 82, 53%), followed by the telephone (n = 58, 38%). E-mail accounted for eight percent (n = 12) of communication. Most respondents (70%, n = 107) were satisfied with the letters' content. Eight of the ten items of information suggested as being appropriate in a response letter were considered essential by 53.2% of dentists (n = 82), and 55.8% (n = 76) believed the remaining two items to be desirable.


CONCLUSIONS
Dentists agree closely on the information required in a response letter and most are satisfied with the content of current response letters. However, many dentists believe response letters arrive later than three weeks after their patient's appointment.
Tomlinson
P
P
University Dental Hospital Cardiff, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XY. tomlinsonpm2@cardiff.ac.uk
McAndrew
R
R
D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital; D005246:Feedback; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014852:Wales