"Letter over a year in advance"

Vision impaired lady had been sent an appointment letter (in small print) over a year in advance (13th May 2016). A visiting family member had read it to her, but must have missed that it was for 2016 (not 2015). The lady requested transport with a local charity, which involved co-ordinating volunteers to get the elderly vision impaired lady from Ashton to Manchester Royal Infirmary for the 9. 15am appointment. Although this is not necessarily the hospital's fault, sending out letters over a year in advance and A) expecting the person to remember the appointment, and B) potentially coming a year early, could easily be prevented by either sending out letters closer to the appointment time, or at least making sure letters didn't go out over a year in advance. Perhaps just including the day of the week within the date would help people avoid confusion. Obviously having letters in large print so the lady can read them for herself (rather than only having them read to her once) would also be a great advantage, but apparently this is currently not feasible with the outsourced mailing system currently in place.