Information prescriptions guide people with long-term conditions or care needs, and their carers, to relevant and reliable sources of information. This enables them to feel more in control and better able to manage their condition and maintain their independence.
These prescriptions are provided by health and social care professionals as part of a consultation and can include information on conditions, treatments, care services, self care and benefits advice. This information is tailored to individual needs and may be in the form of a leaflet, CD or contact details for national and local support services.
To support NHS staff in delivering both information prescriptions and personalised care plans, the Department of Health commissioned NHS Employers to develop the following tools:
- an e-learning module called An introduction to delivering information prescriptions. This free interactive training course will help health and social care staff to understand and deliver information prescriptions, developing the skills and competencies that are required for assessing information needs and prescribing appropriate information
- a self-assessment management tool that covers the steps an organisation needs to take to provide information prescriptions, as well as identify what organisational and workforce support is needed.
Background
The tools are part of a broader programme of work that has been developed by the Department of Health to support health and social care organisations, which includes an online resource pack and nationally available information prescriptions from NHS Choices. These resources build on the learning from the pilot programme in 2007/08 which showed the effectiveness of information prescriptions. The evaluation report included a survey of those involved in the pilot which showed:
• Three quarters of users agreed that they felt more confident in asking questions about their condition (73 per cent).
• Half (52 per cent) of patients and service users who said that they had received information agreed that it had helped to improve their care.
• Two-thirds (66 per cent) agreed that they now felt more in control of what was happening with their condition.
• Most carers agreed that, when they had seen it, they found information useful (89 per cent).
The NHS Constitution made a commitment to offer accessible, reliable and relevant information to enable patients to participate fully in their own healthcare decisions.
What is an information prescription?
Information plays a crucial role in supporting people with long-term conditions to take care of themselves and improve their quality of life. Up until now there has been no way to ensure that a person will have access to, or receive the right information, when they need it most - at diagnosis and as their need develops. Information prescriptions will give everyone access to the information they need, when they need it, in a way they prefer to receive it.
Information prescriptions will contain a series of links or signposts to guide people to sources of information about their health and care - for example information about conditions and treatments, care services, benefits advice and support groups. They will let people know exactly where to get further advice, where to go to get support, and where to network with others with a similar condition. They will include useful addresses, telephone numbers and website links and sign-post where they can go to find out more information about their condition, information about medication, what services are available in the NHS and what services are available locally in social care to help them take better control of their condition.
Piloting the programme
To ensure the successful design and delivery of information prescriptions nationally, the Department of Health recruited 20 sites to test and provide evidence of the effectiveness of the programme, and measure the impact on both the public and the workforce. The piloting phase ran from February 2007 and ended in March 2008. The pilot sites included a range of organisations across health and social care, including Primary Care Trusts, Foundation Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, Local Authorities, GP surgeries, the voluntary and community sector - covering a range of primary, secondary, tertiary and social care settings.
The information and outcomes from the piloting phase have been used to inform the development of support tools for other health and social care organisations delivering information prescriptions. Further information about the programme and pilot work can be found on the information prescription website.