CONTENT AND LEGIBILITY OF OUTPATIENT APPOINTMENT LETTERS

Objectives: To assess whether outpatient appointment letters can be re ad by visually impaired people and to examine the information they con tain. Design: Postal survey of hospital outpatient departments in Engl and and Wales.Main outcome measures: Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) guidelines for print size and weight, colour contrast bet ween paper and print and use of capital letters; checklist of items of information contained. Results: We asked 295 hospital trusts for copi es of their outpatient appointment letters, and received 158 samples. In 87% the print size was too small to be read by visually impaired pe ople. All used contrasting paper and print colour, but 13% used too li ght a print weight. Twelve percent used capital letters throughout whi ch are harder to read than lower case lettering. Information content w as variable. Twenty letters specifically designed for low vision clini cs were assessed separately; all used adequate print size and weight, but 55% used capitals throughout. Conclusions: Most outpatient appoint ment letters are not easily read by visually impaired people. Importan t items of information are omitted from some letters.