Patient representatives’ views on patient information in clinical cancer trials

"The emotional and cognitive responses to written patient information reported by patient representatives provides a basis for revised formats in future trials and add to the body of information that support use of plain language, structured text and illustrations to improve the informed consent process and thereby patient enrolment into clinical trials."

Patient representatives’ views on patient information in clinical cancer trials
P Dellson, M Nilbert, C Carlsson
BMC Health Services Research, 2016, 16:36 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1272-2

Read more here. 

Improving the user experience of patient versions of clinical guidelines

"It is important for guideline producers to maximise the user experience of the public when they access patient versions of guidelines, particularly given the current low level of access and awareness. One size does not fit all and guideline producers need to strike a balance between keeping the patient version simple and providing sufficient information to facilitate shared decision making and empower the public. Guideline producers may find the results of this study useful in designing their own patient versions."


Improving the user experience of patient versions of clinical guidelines: user testing of a Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) patient version
N Fearns, K Graham, G Johnston, D Service
BMC Health Services Research, 2016, 16:37 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1287-8


Read more here.

Quick guides: transforming urgent and emergency care services in England

"NHS England and partners have published a series of quick guides to support local health and care systems. The guides provide practical tips, case studies and links to useful documents, which can be used to implement solutions to commonly experienced issues. Use the information to manage upcoming winter pressures and plan for 2016 and beyond."

• Better use of care at home 
• Clinical input to care homes 
• Identifying local care home placements
• Improving hospital discharge into the care sector 
• Technology in care homes
• Sharing patient information 

Quick guide: Transforming urgent and emergency care services in England
NHS England
2015

All six guides can be accessed here.

Type 1 diabetes pregnancy toolkit

"The research showed that there was very little easy to understand information available aimed solely at women with type 1 diabetes... Furthermore, advice for women with type 1 diabetes advice was often mixed with advice for women with type 2 diabetes.

We identified a clear patient need for a simple, downloadable, information resource about all aspects of pregnancy with type 1 diabetes that identified pre-conception goals."

Type 1 diabetes pregnancy toolkit
JDRF
NICE Shared Learning example
May 2015

Read more here.

Keeping patients with epilepsy safe

"While there is no proven intervention or national surveillance of epilepsy mortality, the safety checklist is a simple and practical tool that can be used to demonstrate effective clinical and corporate governance while enhancing patient safety. It can also help give some assurance to bereaved families that every effort was made to reduce risk and prevent a fatality."

Keeping patients with epilepsy safe: a surmountable challenge?
R Shankar et al.
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u208167.w3252

Read more here.

NHS Choices Mental Health apps Library

This week, NHS England have released a directory of NHS endorsed mobile apps to support mental health. The apps are hoped to improve access to psychological therapies.

For more information and to access the apps go here.

Improving the quality of discharge summaries for elective surgical procedures

"We conclude that discharge summaries are an effective time point for intervening to provide patients with specific post-operative information and this may be optimised for different elective procedures via the introduction of electronically-distributed standardised templates."

Improving the quality of discharge summaries for elective surgical procedures at North Bristol NHS Trust

E Ladds, F Betteridge, S Yamamoto, T Gupta-Jessop

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u203452.w1552

Read more here. 

Health literacy: health professionals’ understandings and their perceptions of barriers

"This study suggests that health professionals have a limited understanding of health literacy and of the consequences of low health literacy for their Indigenous patients."

Health literacy: health professionals’ understandings and their perceptions of barriers that Indigenous patients encounter
M Lambert, J Luke, B Downey, S Crengle, M Kelaher, S Reid, J Smylie
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:614  doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0614-1

Read more here.

Meeting patients’ health information needs in breast cancer center hospitals

"We found differences in proportions of patients with unmet information needs between hospitals and that hospitals’ structure and process-related attributes of the hospitals were associated with these differences to some extent. Hospitals may contribute to reducing the patients’ information needs by means that are not necessarily resource-intensive."

Meeting patients’ health information needs in breast cancer center hospitals – a multilevel analysis

C Kowalski, SD Lee, L Ansmann, S Wesselmann, H Pfaff
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:601  doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0601-6

Read more here.

Care Act 2014: statutory guidance for implementation

"The guidance associated with the Care Act set out how the Act will work in practice when the first phase of the reforms comes into effect next year."

Care Act 2014: statutory guidance for implementation
Department of Health
October 2014

Read more here.

My NHS: Open data for better services

The Department of Health and NHS England have released a new website that aims to "support transparency and drive quality" by making performance data more available to patients. The My NHS site contains performance statistics for hospitals, social care services, and for public health services and outcomes.

Access the website here.

Prioritising person-centred care - the evidence

"In our search for evidence we looked at how patient involvement interventions contribute to four key outcomes:

•   improving people’s knowledge
•   enhancing people’s experience of services
•   impact on service use and cost, and
•   impact on people’s health"

Prioritising person-centred care - the evidence: summarising evidence from systematic reviews
National Voices
2014

Read more and access the summaries/guides here.

NHS Choices: patient safety

A section on patient safety has been added to the NHS Choices website signposting patients to information on hospital performance and patient safety initiatives. 

Access the resource here.

Focus on Stroke

In February the National Institute for Health Research launched their new Focus on Stroke website. The website showcases NIHR research activities, including a searchable list of studies, patient information resources, and stroke research case studies.

Find out more and access all of the resources here.

Investment in patient information improves outcomes and reduces costs

"If we fail to provide patients with the information and support they need, we compromise all three dimensions of quality care – patient experience, patient safety and clinical effectiveness."

Making the case for information: the evidence for investing in high quality health information for patients and the public
Patient Information Forum
June 2013

Read the full report here or the executive summary here.

The Patient Information Forum has produced three summary briefings to accompany this report:
PiF Briefing Summary: Health information specialists
PiF Briefing Summary: Policy makers and commissioners
PiF Briefing Summary: Health professionals

Making the case for information

"The evidence for investing in high quality health information for patients and the public."

Making the case for information
Patient Information Forum
May 2013

Read more here.

Guide to health records access

The Patient Information Forum has prepared a guide about shared Personal Health Records (PHRs), aimed at health practitioners, managers, and patient organisations in health and social care in the UK.

Read more here.

Alive and clicking: information that benefits all

"This paper looks at the costs and benefits of informing and communicating with patients through web and social media platforms versus the costs of not doing so effectively."

Alive and clicking: information that benefits all
NHS Confederation
May 2012

Read more here.