As she battles cancer, my mum fears that she will forget to tell her consultant something important. Like many people with complex and chronic health needs, she clutches a Post-it note with 10 bullet-pointed symptoms, such as “cannot stand” and “spasms”. It is her companion during stressful appointments. We rehearse her list before we enter, and worry that we deviated too much when we leave.

Even then, her peer-reviewed lists, sometimes on the back of envelopes, are inadequate when her condition may change day to day. Each list, too, must be tailored for each of her consultants – many lists get lost in her tall pile of notes and letters. I hate those car rides home when we’re upset that we didn’t say something important, fearing the consequences of this omission. In a health system in which people can wait more than a year for an appointment, you wonder how meticulous these Post-it notes need to be to convey every change in their medical condition since the initial referral letter. It raises the question of how many people have experienced this unsettling ride home.

Throughout my mum’s cancer treatment, the NHS has been wonderful and I have a special gratitude for all the staff, as well as for those at the the cancer charity Macmillan, who have made our uncertain lives bearable. However, communication is essential throughout the treatment process, so it troubles me when it breaks down.

This breakdown is apparent in one 2025 study from Healthwatch England, in which 23% of patients reported noticing inaccuracies in their NHS medical record; of these patients, only 17% said the errors had not impacted them. Now that AI is increasingly trained on........

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