Keywords
Citation
(2003), "UK. Better information for the UK public", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2003.06216aab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2003, MCB UP Limited
UK. Better information for the UK public
UK
Better information for the UK publicKeywords: CHIQ, Health service, Consultancy
The Centre for Health Information Quality (CHIQ) has been commissioned by the Department of Health to improve the quality of health information available to the general public. CHIQ is a UK development agency, working to raise standards in health information for the public. It was established in 1997 by the NHS Executive, and works with information producers and providers to raise standards in the production of consumer health information. CHIQ acts as "a clearing house on all aspects of patient information, providing practical advice to the NHS and others on the production of good quality information for patients" (NHS Executive). It is intended to be an expert resource for NHS staff as well as patient representatives who produce or require patient information. It works through:
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Appraisals – assessing information and information services.
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Consultancy – networking with producers and providers of health information.
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Training – for producers and providers of health information.
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Continuous quality monitoring – one-stop quality assurance packages for health information services
In 2001 it was contracted by the National Health Service Executive to devise and implement a quality assurance programme across all public-facing NHS Digital TV Pilot services. This involves standards development, training and monitoring.
The organisation will be training key communications staff in patient advice and liaison services and producing guidelines for producers and reviewers of relevant information. It will also make tools available to help online NHS information resources produce credible and useful material.
Further information: the Web site, www.hiquality.org.uk, will be reviewed in our next issue.