The term ‘patient’ has been used throughout this text and refers to all groups and individuals who have direct or indirect contact with all health-care workers and, in particular, registered nurses, midwives or health visitors. ‘Patient’ is the expression that is used commonly within the NHS. While it is acknowledged that not everyone approves of the passive concept associated with this term, it is used in this text in the knowledge that the term is widely understood. Other terms could have been used, for example service user, client or consumer, but for the sake of brevity patient will be used.