Each year up to 10 million taxpayers contact the HM Revenue and Customs for help with their tax affairs and the Department spends £35 million on producing and distributing printed information and £55 million dealing with contacts. This report looks at the type of communication between the Department and the individual taxpayer whether forms and guidance are easy to obtain, easy to understand, accurate and comprehensive. The potential benefits and savings in making services more responsive to customer needs have previously been highlighted and the Department has already instituted some changes, with more being planned. This report contains recommendations to continue this process.

This report by the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) Working Group on Patient Information focuses on three main issues: to advise on strategies to improve the quality of information provided with medicines within the regulatory environment to meet patients needs; to propose criteria to assess and monitor the quality of patient information to ensure the safe and appropriate use of medicines; and to advise on key cases which could impact significantly on public health and which will set standards for other products. A number of recommendations are made in relation to the following issues: patient involvement; the quality of patient information leaflets (PILs); risk communication; accessibility of information about medicine taking; regulatory needs; patients needs; public awareness aspects; and impact assessment.

Showing how to identify and evaluate clinical risks that arise in primary care, this work provides sound practical advice and helpful solutions for effective clinical risk management, leading to better practice and fewer mistakes.