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Map of Medicine - support for pilots

One of the aims of the piloting programme was to identify common requirements and, where possible, look at ways in which they could be developed with additional DH funding. A number of workshops were held with pilots in the Spring and Summer of 2007 to investigate, design and develop an information prescription generator that built on the deployment of the Map of Medicine across the NHS by Connecting for Health.

Following four workshops and direct input from a number of pilot sites, the Information Prescriptions Generator (IPG) was developed for all pilots to use. The IPG provided pilots with a:

  • Data entry facility for information sources - whether by bulk entry or individual input
  • Data search facility - by key words, type of information, etc - to enable health & social care professionals to find the information they need for their patients and carers
  • Link facility - so that information sources could be linked directly to patient pathways and different stages in those pathways
  • Customised information prescription template - automatically populated with the information sources selected. This template could be printed out, e-mailed or saved locally

Four pilot sites actively used the information prescription generator during the life of the piloting phase and have continued to use it up to March 2009.

The Map of Medicine information prescription generator project funded by the Department of Health provided invaluable learning that informed development and design of the national information prescriptions now available through NHS Choices. A number of links are included below that provide more background to this programme of learning.