At the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals we are working towards a new certification standard for all of our patient information.

The Information Standard is a certification scheme and quality mark supported by the Department of Health for all organisations producing evidence-based health information for the public.

It helps the public and patients quickly identify reliable sources of quality, evidence-based information through the use of an easily recognised quality mark.

Three organisations are authorised to carry out the assessment and provide certification against The Information Standard. We are being assessed by The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) - a charity dedicated to the promotion and protection of collective human health and wellbeing.

They have certified organisations in both health and social care sectors and were the first body to award certificates.

We have always had a good internal process for approving patient information, which has ensured a minimum standard for both content and presentation. We have a Patient Information Group made up of information leads from each of our clinical areas and a Governor who work with staff and offer guidance.

We aim for all of our patient information to be clear, concise, relevant, accurate, evidence-based, accessible and written in plain language.

We also ensure that the information provided is consistent with our own risk standards and other national standards such as those set by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA)

The Information Standard ensures that patients and the public are directly involved in the production of information through a readership panel. It will also provide confidence that we conform to consistently high quality standards based on the requirements of the Information Standard.

You can find out more about the Information Standard at www.theinformationstandard.org. If you would like to be part of our readership panel please email us at communications@rbch.nhs.uk.