Evolution not revolution? The struggle for the recognition and development of patient education in the UK.

In this paper, a review of patient education in the United Kingdom (UK) is presented. Some of the reasons for the development of patient education are identified and its relationship to other educational activities in health care settings is discussed. The gap between the theory and practice of UK patient education is then examined and emerging new practices are considered. The concluding section of the paper identifies a number of important questions to ask when considering the future development of patient education. These are relevant questions for patients, practitioners, researchers and politicians.