Name

• Ask for the patient’s full name.
• Ask the patient how they spell their name as it may be different to conventional spelling.
• Ask to check if they use a shortened version of their given name– i.e. "Chris" instead of "Christopher" or "Christine".
• Confirm that their given name is their first name, for example "David Andrew Jones" may call himself Andy.
• Check that you have the given name and family name the correct way round.
• Care must be taken when tracing babies. Names may not be present (eg. Baby Johnson) or may have changed when the baby was formally registered with the Registrar of Births and Deaths.