In this age of fake news in a reality where anyone can create a legitimate looking website, it is really important to remember that many patients need a little guidance on where to find trustworthy sources of health information and guidance. This post is aimed to signpost staff to good leaflets, websites and hand-outs for patients.
36% of patients with a long-term condition, over 5.5 million people, disagree that they were given helpful information about their condition when they were first diagnosed
21% of patients, representing over 3.2 million people, disagree that they have enough information to feel confident in discussing decisions about their care with their doctor
29% of patients, over 4.4 million people, feel that their views are not taken seriously by their doctor
taken from an open access presentation by Lisa Burscheidt (Assistant Librarian at Aubrey Keep Library, North East London NHS Foundation Trust)
First and foremost, NHS Choices is the UK’s biggest health website. Health Education England have recently brought out a guide to using NHS choices which is aimed at patients, but is also really useful for all NHS staff who have patient contact, it is available from the Knowledge for Healthcare website here and will be revised every six months inline with the regular changes to NHS Choices.
Developed by Health Librarians, this guide is for staff and the public to use to find the wide range of health information freely available on NHS Choices. Using screenshots and short descriptions, the guide can be used as a teaching tool or a standalone leaflet.
There is also a free online course here at Learn My Way (Good Things foundation, formerly the Tinder foundation) which helps you to get the best out of NHS Choices as a resource.
A user friendly booklet has been developed by Joint Education and Training Library (JET) Library, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to help advise the public on where to find trustworthy health information online and this is available to download here and can be printed off to hand out to the public.
Here at the Christie we are of course lucky enough to have the fantastic Cancer Information Centre as well, which has a huge selection of leaflets as well as a really welcoming and helpful team of staff. More information about this service is available here.