Overview

The Information Standard is a recognised quality mark denoting to the public a reliable source of health and social care information. The Information Standard is a certification scheme for health and social care information. Successful organisations can use the quality mark on materials to confirm that the information is from a reliable source.

The external seal of approval was established by the Department of Health (DOH) as it was identified that 75% of people found it difficult to identify information as trustworthy. This recognisable mark will eradicate these concerns by validating information as reliable and trustworthy.

The Information Standard also aligns with the Care Quality Commission strategy by providing the public with relevant and accurate information so they can make confident and informed decisions about their lifestyle, treatment and care during what are often anxious times. The mark will also help healthcare professionals identify material as accurate so they can be confident when recommending information to patients and users.

About 50,000 organisations produce health and/or social care information for the public in England and this varies greatly in terms of quality. As a result people can feel overwhelmed by volume of information and unsure what to trust. The Information Standard has been introduced to fulfil this need for a quality ‘filter’. It offers a recognisable symbol of quality and reassurance.

There are many benefits of being certified, as the Information Standard:

• Improves your organisations profile
• Promotes your organisation
• Demonstrates social responsibility
• Enhances creditability and builds reputation
• Adds brand value and reinforces brand positioning
• Demonstrates leadership and forward thinking
• Demonstrates commitment to being a customer-friendly organisation
• Motivates staff and raises morale
• Acts as a tool for positive change and helps to improve internal processes, providing a framework for continual improvement
• Compliments other accreditation marks
• Improves the way information is developed leading to an overall improvement in the quality of information

Our team will use their experience and specialist knowledge to evaluate your organisations process for developing information, rather than just looking at individual pieces of information.

To become certified organisations have to prove they:

• Have appropriate and documented information management structures
• Use adequate systems and methods for producing information
• Have clear aims about the information they provide
• Understand and meet the needs of their audiences
• Make correct use of sources of evidence
• Make any conflicts of interest clear
• Have effective planning and management skills and resources
• Have internal monitoring procedures and will amend any information not meeting the standard