Out-of-hours special patient notes

Key messages Special patient notes (SPNs) provided by in-hours general practitioners (GPs) to out-of-hours GPs improve the care of patients who have long-term conditions. In-hours GPs responded very well to targeted requests by the out-of-hours service to provide or update SPNs when patients needs arise. The SPN system needs to continue, with ongoing prompts to day-time GPs to provide up-to-date information. The system needs to be integrated with Coordinate My Care and similar systems that help professionals to co-ordinate their activities.