Patrick was an avid writer.  

He used writing as an aide memoire (e.g. travel diaries, medical diaries and book notes), as a campaigning aid (letters to newspapers, policy papers and responses to policy proposals), and as a communication tool (e.g. newsletters for community organisations), to expand on and explain ideas (e.g. books, book chapters, etc.) and as a creative outlet. 

After Patrick's death some never published writing was found in writing journals he kept in his late teens. It included children's stories, comedy scripts and poetry. Glenda is in the process of publishing some of this. 

At the time of his death Patrick had also been working on his first novel.  

In his words, the novel " tells a 300-year story of two families of glass workers – the Murettis in Murano and the Schmidts in Bohemia. The two families never meet, but over three generations, their fortunes intertwine as Bohemia’s glass industry challenges Murano’s centuries-long domination of medieval Europe’s burgeoning glass market.  

Each (long!) chapter in the book will cover a specific part of the 300-year span; BUT rather than a formal ‘summary in italics’ at the chapter’s start), characters’ comments in the early part of the chapter will briefly summarise events since the end of the previous chapter through."

Never short of ambition Patrick had written:

"The book’s long timespan means that it could be adapted easily into a TV costume drama (c.f. The Medici, The Borgias) OR it could be a series (3 – one for each generation?) of shorter books, each covering a part of that 300-year span. Alternatively, it could be a shorter work that creates a character who could recur in further novels – adapted into a TV series (c.f. Murdoch, Fisher, Lewis). S/he MUSTN’T be yet another detective!"

Patrick also had drafted a proposal for a book on British Blues music.