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"Abbreviations in letters"

About: Outpatients Centre / Dermatology

(as a service user),

Received a letter advising me of an appointment at Stirling Community Hospital with the abbreviation BAU used. Why do they need to attempt to hide information by using abbreviations. So according to a google search BAU could mean business as usual or was associated with Basal cell carcinoma removal, which sounds a bit more worrying. Fortunately the letter does say dermatology which helps but I am a below knee amputee with a prosthetic and had queried some strange skin behaviour and scarring on the residual limb of my amputated limb at the prosthetic clinic and think that this is what the appointment is about. However I had best check, which probably means spending an hour on the phone tracking someone down who actually knows about the letter and also what the appointment is in connection with.

 
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Responses

Response from Brenda Smith, Dermatology Nurse, Dermatology, NHS Forth Valley 2 years ago
Brenda Smith
Dermatology Nurse, Dermatology,
NHS Forth Valley
Submitted on 09/11/2021 at 09:00
Published on Care Opinion at 09:35


Apologies for your confusion when reading your letter about dermatology appointment

This abbreviation was brought in for clinics to differentiate them from the ones we used pre covid

We are working on going back to the old names of clinics

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by airmk57 (a service user)

Thank you Brenda Smith that helps explains why the abbreviations are being used but not why an invitation letter to a naive patient is sent with several repeated instances of different abbreviations where the patient has to try and piece together what is meant by them.

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