www.informationprescription.info
About the information prescription pilot sites
Information prescriptions pilot sites are developing and testing the process for people to receive information prescriptions, working to inform the national implementation of information prescriptions during 2008.
There are twenty sites around England that are piloting information prescriptions for people with long term conditions and care needs. These sites started work in January and February 2007, and will run until the end of January 2008.
The pilots are based in a range of health and social care organisations, including primary care trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, local authorities, GP surgeries and the voluntary and community sector. Pilots cover a range of primary, secondary, tertiary and social care settings. They are focusing on a diverse range of long term conditions and care needs. Some pilots are building on existing practices, or have been developed with the help of voluntary organisations such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancerbackup; others have started from scratch.
Pilots are designing the process to deliver information prescriptions by considering how to:
- identify content sources that people should be signposted to
- establish directories of content and compile the links that will point to the content
- generate a template to determine how a personalised information prescription is created and formatted for a specific point on a care pathway
- issue an information prescription to a patient or social care user
- determine the different options for dispensing the information contained in the prescription and how patients can chose which method is best for them
- ensure that the process is inclusive so that anyone can access information prescriptions.