Health and Patient Information

1. Health and Patient Information Lyn Wilson UHCW Patient Information Librarian May 2010

2. Patient Information • Without information there is no choice. It gives patients the power and confidence to engage as partners with their health service ‘Better information, better choices, better health’ • Patients need the right information, at the right time and in the right format • To be well informed takes the anxiety away! Thank you to all those people who have made such information available for patients. One no longer feels the medical staff have all the information! Many thanks. HIC patient

3. Patient centred care Clinical risk management Quality Standards Darzi Review NHS Constitution All underpin the Trust’s commitment to the provision of patient information. The reality of this commitment was the creation of both the Health Information Centre and the post of Patient Information Librarian to ensure access to high quality, evidence based patient information National Drivers

4. NHS Constitution • The NHS Constitution, published in January 2009, makes the provision of patient information a right and is backed up by legislation for the first time: • ‘The NHS commits to offer you easily accessible, reliable and relevant information to enable you to participate fully in your own healthcare decisions and to support you in making choices’‘You have a right to make choices about your NHS care and to information to support these choices’  (Section 2a of the NHS Constitution)

5. Providing access to quality patient information enables the Trust to comply with the national policies of: • Patient Centred Care • Shared Decision Making • Informed Consent • Patient Choice

6. …and the regulatory requirements of: • NHS Litigation Authority (2007) Risk Management Standards For Acute Trusts • Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 • Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009

7. Health Information Centre

9. Patient Information Librarian: UHCW • Manages the Health Information Centre, ensuring access to reliable evidence based patient information on conditions, treatments and services, to all Trust users and staff. • Administers the Patient Information Approval Process for the Trust • Guides Trust policy and standards in relation to patient information. • Provides staff training in the production of quality patient information and in accessing and assessing health related websites.

10. Health Information Centre Services • Information on conditions, treatments, procedures, NHS services, support groups and other related information • Free, confidential service to all Trust patients, visitors and staff • Enquiries received in person, telephone or by email • Resources include books, leaflets, DVDs, internet access. • Local support group drop-in sessions • Health related displays • Open: Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm (Tuesdays 7.00pm) • Staff: 1 full-time librarian, 2 half-time information officers

11. UHCW Patient Information • Patient information approval process • Patient information policy (and standard) • Database of Trust patient information • Wider strategy for Trust patient information

12. The future • Health information prescriptions • Information prescriptions direct people to sources of information about their health and care – for example information about conditions and treatments, care services, benefits, and support groups. They can include addresses, telephone numbers and website addresses that people may find helpful and where they can go to find out more. • They are aimed at patients with long-term conditions. There are 27 currently available • Information prescriptions are available on NHS Choices website: www.nhs.uk/planners/yourhealth/pages/information.aspx

13. Information Standard • The Information Standard is a new certification scheme for health and social care information producers. Organisations which meet the criteria of The Information Standard will then be entitled to place a quality mark on their information materials so people searching for health and social care information can easily identify it as coming from a reliable, trustworthy source. • The Information Standard looks at processes and in that respect, is similar to schemes such as ‘Fair Trade’. The organisation’s process for developing information will be assessed rather than individual pieces of information. The assessment will evaluate elements like the organisation’s processes for making sure information produced is consistent with latest clinical evidence or their process for involving information users. • The scheme was launched in 2009 following a pilot of 36 organisations from the Statutory, Voluntary and Commercial sectors. These included major national support groups, professional bodies and NHS Trusts.

14. Providing information to the patient at the right time, at the right level, in the format. • Informed choices • Shared decisions • Better understanding of their condition/treatment • Positive approach to treatment and therefore more compliance with treatment • Improved outcomes Better information, better choices, better health