The Department Of Health Appoints Capita To Manage New Certification Scheme For Health And Social Care Information, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 04 May 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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The Department of Health (DH) has appointed Capita to manage a new certification scheme - The Information Standard - as part of a drive to ensure that the public and patients have access to good quality information that will help them make confident and informed decisions about their health and social care.

The Information Standard, formerly known as the Information Accreditation Scheme, will be launched later this summer.

The scheme will help people make informed decisions on their care and the care of their families by making it easy to identify information that is consistent, reliable and from a trustworthy source.

There are more than 50,000 organisations producing health and social care information in England. Any of these could apply to join the scheme and become certified, whether they are a public sector organisation (NHS or local authority), a voluntary sector organisation or a commercial company.

Organisations that apply to join the scheme will be certified against a standard. The certification bodies will be approved by UK Accreditation Service (UKAS), an independent agency that accredits certification bodies.

Similar to other schemes, such as the Fair Trade mark, those organisations that meet the criteria set out in the standard will then be entitled to place the quality mark on their information materials. Information producers can also use the standard to improve the way in which they develop their information leading to an overall improvement in the quality of information available to people.

Capita will manage the scheme on a day to day basis. Ann Keen MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health Services, DH, said: "I am delighted that Capita has been appointed to manage The Information Standard on our behalf and look forward to the launch of the scheme itself later this summer. I am confident that The Information Standard will make a significant difference to those needing health and social care information and help them make informed choices about their care."

Research carried out by the DH shows that 77 per cent of people had sought health and social care information in the last 12 months and 87 per cent said they were in favour of such a scheme and that it would make them trust the information more .

The Information Standard is being introduced by the DH to empower people to make informed decisions. It is also a response to previous calls by groups, such as the Consumers Association in 2003, for the provision of good quality information to be made available to the public.

Notes

- The Information Standard will be used to quality assure sources of information on Information Prescriptions. For more information on Information Prescriptions, please go to www.nhs.uk/informationprescriptions.

- The Information Standard will be similar to other schemes such as Fair Trade and will assess the organisation's processes rather than individual pieces of information. It will look to see whether information produced is consistent, contains the latest clinical evidence and whether alternative opinions are included.

- DH has developed the standard and The Information Standard mark and will retain ownership of both. An Information Standard Board, led by an independent chair and with representatives of DH, Capita and other stakeholders such as lay members and clinical experts will oversee the independence of the scheme.

- As part of comprehensive testing, 39 information producers from public, private and voluntary sectors are working to test the standard to ensure it is a robust and workable standard against which information producers will be certified once the scheme is launched. NHS Direct is facilitating the progress of these organisations and supporting, more widely, delivery of the testing phase.

- Capita will authorise a number of Certification Bodies to carry out the assessment and certification of information producers against The Information Standard. These Certification Bodies will be specialists in carrying out such evaluations against standards. As part of this authorisation, certification bodies will need to achieve and maintain accreditation through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to confirm that they are competent to provide a certification service against the standard.

- The quality mark has been developed in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders encompassing health and social care professionals, information producers, patients and the public.

Source
Department of Health, UK

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