ENSURING MEDICAL INFORMATION IS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL SUMMARY

Dan Wills, Quality Manager at the Patient Information Forum (PIF), discusses the importance of helping the public find trusted, reliable medical information. Crucially, he says people must be able to use that information once they have found it. Dan runs the PIF TICK – the UK’s only assessed quality mark scheme for both printed and online health information.

Medical information which is easy for patients to find, understand and use has a vital role to play in improving outcomes and adherence to medications. The right information can help people understand the early warning signs of adverse events and manage long term conditions. Yet 42% of the working age population are unable to understand or make use of everyday health information, rising to 61% when numeracy skills are also required1

This leads to poor health outcomes across a range of indicators including increased health inequalities, lack of engagement in disease prevention and an increased risk of hospitalisation.

At PIF, we believe everyone should have access to high quality health information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health, wellbeing and care. To make this a reality we need to ensure every communication with patients – from invitations to attend clinics to medicines information - is easy to understand and use.

So how can we do this?

Helping patients easily find trusted medical information

One way to help patients easily find trusted health information is the use of quality marks. In 2019, the NHS Information Standard ceased to be an assessed scheme. However, consumer research by PIF found 80% of the public would look for a quality mark on health information. In addition, our membership felt there was a need for a robust assessment process.

That is why we launched the PIF TICK in May 2020. To gain the PIF TICK, organisations must meet 10 key criteria. These ensure information is created using a consistent and documented process, that it is based on up-to-date evidence and that it meets an identified need.

In a recent survey, 95% of PIF TICK members said they had made changes to their information production process since signing up to the scheme and found it beneficial to have external review of their information production process.

Crucially, the PIF TICK also says information must be ‘easy to use and navigate’ Making medical information accessible for all

While medical information must, of course, be accurate if patients cannot understand it then it has no purpose. Plain and simple language and clear risk communication are vital elements of health information – whether it is printed materials, patient tools or online resources.

Currently, 6.5 million people cannot measure or record height and weight on a chart2 and 9 million people are unable to use digital tools unaided3

We believe this has to change. More than 100 organisations have signed our health and digital literacy charter. By doing so, they commit to becoming a health-literacy friendly organisation, making it easier for people to navigate, understand and use information and services to take care of their health.

Our popular Health Literacy Matters poster is a simple one-page document with tips and statistics to help you make the case for health-literacy friendly materials in your organisation.

Our PIF TICK website also features simple guides for the public on understanding patient data and evidence

Using numbers to communicate benefits and risk

Some of the most complex information to convey clearly is around benefits and risks. Yet we know patients want to be informed. In our Maternity Decisions: Being Induced survey of more than 2,300 women, the top information need was statistics on risks, benefits and alternatives. Women also wanted to know the absolute rather than relative risk.

Using absolute rather than relative risk is just one of the recommendations in our Communicating Benefits Risks and Uncertainties guide. The guide highlights a range of approaches and tools for unbiased communication of benefits, risks and uncertainties to patients. Other top tips include:

• Use numbers not words

• Illustrate risk with visual aids

• Consider using both positive and negative framing

• Communicate the uncertainty of data

• Pre-empt misunderstandings

We also have a guide to help the public make sense of risks and benefits on the PIF TICK website.

How we can help

If you would like to know more about how the PIF TICK scheme could help you improve the quality of your health information, email me on: dan.wills@pifonline.org.uk

More information on PIF membership is available here. PIF members get exclusive access to guidance and webinars, as well as discounts on our popular online training courses in health literacy and writing in plain language.

1https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26009533/

2Lloyds Bank, 2020. www.lloydsbank.com

3Survey of Adult Skills 2015 oecd.org/skills/piaac