Service user, patient, survivor or client … has the time come to return to ‘patient’?
Summary Recently, the Council of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists agreed to use the term ‘patient’ as the preferred collective noun when referring to people accessing mental health services in its official documentation. Choices regarding terminology have the power to influence those who use such terms and here, David Christmas and Angela Sweeney debate the issue of whether such a decision is appropriate or whether we need to be more careful about the terms we use.