Medical communication charts

Download the medical communication charts (MCCs)

About the project

Background

The concept of medical communication charts originated from a quality improvement project (QIP) in 2020 at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. These charts are based on four commonly used speech and language therapy charts utilised during the COVID-19 pandemic, tailored for daily medical ward rounds. This QIP involved three PDSA (plan-do-study-act) cycles and was subsequently published in the peer-reviewed BMJ Open medical journal in 2021 (PMID: 34561279).

In 2023, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s charity CW+ approved a Small Change Big Impact (SCBI) grant to fund further development of this project, and the design of the charts was developed in-house at the Trust. The grant also funded formal translations into the 25 most commonly used languages at the Trust. The content of the charts was developed collaboratively with local staff and patients, the hospital’s multidisciplinary maternity forum and the Trust’s patient experience team to ensure they meet the needs of patients across medical and surgical specialties and maternity.

Intended use

The MCCs are intended for use during daily medical ward rounds for inpatients whose first language is not English. They are not a replacement for face-to-face or telephone translators during consultations. We hope this communication aid will encourage more patient-initiated communication on inpatient wards.

We will evaluate these MCCs by monitoring their uptake in clinical areas by patients and staff, and by tracking patient safety data related to language barriers.

Use by other trusts

We would like to share this communication aid with other Trusts across the UK to enhance communication during daily medical ward rounds and improve patient experience.

If your Trust would like to use our medical communication charts, please contact the Patient Experience team at chelwest.patientexperience@nhs.net.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to:

  • CW+ for their invaluable support of this project through the CW+ SCBI Grant
  • Dr Ana Canoso for her involvement in the quality improvement project at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Dr Arabella Chapman, Tracey Pettit, Gina Short and Simon O’Donoghue for providing patient safety and language data to support this project

Project team

  • Dr Amrita D’Souza: Medical Lead, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London
  • Dr Laura-Jane Smith: Medical Lead, King’s College Hospital, London
  • Matt Robinson: Head of Patient Experience, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London
  • George Vasilopoulos: Web Communications and Graphic Design Manager, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

If you have any comments or suggestions, please email chelwest.patientexperience@nhs.net.