Relatives, friends and carers will want to know how patients are doing and we will pass basic information on to them with the agreement of the patient. It is important that patients tell us if they do not want us to do this or if there is someone to whom they do not want information given. It’s a great help to us if patients can ask just one person to contact us, who can then pass on the information to everyone else. This saves nurses having to answer lots of calls about the same patient.