It has been previously established that post-mastectomy breast reconstruction is highly effective in improving the wellbeing of women, specifically in terms of improving their psychosocial, physical and sexual well-being [
1,
2]. Furthermore, there is evidence that the quality of pre-operative information impacts patients’ perceptions of breast reconstruction and treatment options, as well as their long term satisfaction with results [
3‐
6]. One potential way of increasing patient understanding of the information received in pre-operative consultations is to allow patients an opportunity to make a digital recording of their consultations on their personal devices. In fact, Elwyn and colleagues found that 69% of respondents from the general public desired to record clinical encounters [
7]. The largest experience with the use of recorded consultations is in the field of oncology [
8] In this field, Benson et al. found that this practice enhanced patient recollection and adherence to management, patients also reported feeling “empowered”. This same group also found that recordings allowed the clinician to conduct the consultation without feeling the pressure of time or being scrutinised as well as minimising the chances of surreptitious recording and resultant legal action [
8]. In some oncological cases, patients reported a significant memory barrier as being the result of a phenomenon known as chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment or ‘chemobrain,’ whereby there is an impairment in memory, concentration, attention, reasoning, visuospatial skills, and executive functioning [
9‐
13]. This can last up to several years following chemotherapy [
11,
14,
15]. In these oncological patients, personalised recordings of consultations were found to improve information retention and were used to help inform family and friends [
16]. Generic recordings have been proposed as an option but Hack’s group found in their work in breast oncology that patients tended to prefer a personalised audio-recording of their own consultation instead [
17]. In line with this, oncology researchers have now designed a consultation audio-recording mobile app which is currently being tested [
18]. Although the majority of research in this area is in the field of cancer, studies have also been performed in orthopaedic [
19] and neurosurgical [
20] consultations where the results of qualitative interviews found recordings had a positive impact on patient understanding. Post-mastectomy breast reconstruction consultations differ from oncology, in that they relate to quality of life and its varying domains including psychosocial and sexual well-being, rather than issues of survival. These patients are in a very different frame of mind and can be at high risk of experiencing difficulties with memory after completing their chemotherapy treatment. For this reason, this study focused on patients receiving additional information specifically about breast reconstruction options. Furthermore, the impact of age on memory needs to be considered, as people later in life may have poorer information recall when compared to those who are younger [
21,
22]. The aim of this study was therefore to use qualitative interviews to investigate the acceptability and value of audio-recordings as a memory aid in the delivery of information for pre-operative breast reconstruction patients.