Information Prescriptions
Introductory pack for
providers of local information
June 2011
Version 2
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Introduction
Thank you for expressing interest in supplying local information to NHS Choices for
use in the Information Prescription System (IPS).
This information pack explains what sort of information we are looking for and how
you can go about supplying it to us.
Information Prescriptions
What is an Information Prescription?
An Information Prescription is a little like a medicines prescription. A medicines
prescription tells a patient what drugs they need to take for their condition; an
Information Prescription helps patients to learn more about the condition, and how to
cope with it on a daily basis.
Information prescriptions should be offered to everyone with a long-term condition or
social care need. They contain reliable, accurate information to help people manage
their health more effectively and live more independently. They include signposts to
further sources of advice and support, such as local patient groups and selfmanagement programmes, access to benefits and social care services. The contents
of an Information Prescription are tailored to each patient’s individual needs, through
discussions with health and social care professionals.
The Information Prescriptions Service
The Information Prescriptions Service (www.nhs.uk/ips) allows users, both
professional and public, to quickly and simply create an Information Prescription for
themselves or others. It offers a rich selection of information for users to choose
from – including information uploaded from national charities.
The service will allow users to:
§ Select a condition
§ Select NHS, third sector and local information relevant to that condition and its
associated treatments
§ Set and recall ‘favourite’ information prescriptions
§ Add a cover note to personalise the package for a patient
§ Print the prescription for a patient or email it to them
§ Save a copy of the completed Information Prescription
Local information
Local organisations are now being invited to add local information that they believe
will be helpful to users of the IPS. Information assets can be uploaded in a variety of
formats, including PDF files, video, audio and flash files.
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These information assets need to be public facing and abide by the editorial
principles and guidelines and technical formats stipulated below. They can be
condition or treatment specific for uploading against particular topics, or can be
generic for uploading against a range of different topics
Local information assets should provide information related to the locality, and not
duplicate information about a condition or treatment that is already available through
the IPS. For example, a local asset might describe breast cancer services in a
particular area, but should not provide information about breast cancer itself.
Local information assets could include, for example:
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Guides to local services
Local support information
Local transport information
Organisations whose information assets are uploaded into the IPS will be credited as
‘Local partners’, with their associated logos and branding details made visible to
system users. Local organisations will retain copyright of their asset but will consent
to allow it to be distributed via the IPS system.
Screengrab of the IPS system
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Guidelines for local content providers
General
Local information ‘assets’ provided for the IPS can include PDFs, video, audio and
flash files. The content must be patient facing and should be relevant to ordinary
patients seeking information about a particular condition or treatment. It should
provide information specific to the locality, and not duplicate general information
about the condition or treatment that is already available through the IPS.
NHS Choices retains the right to remove content from the system at any time.
Organisation details
All information assets must be associated with an organisation. In order to create the
organisation we require full contact details including address, phone numbers and
email address. We also ask for:
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Hi-res jpeg of the supplying organisation’s logo.
50-word (max) description of the organisation.
Each information asset will be associated with the organisation address in the
system and will be accessible from the local postcode search on the front page and
from the drop down (see below).
Local information displayed for Sheffield
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Editorial requirements
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All assets must reflect the principles and standards of the NHS Choices
Editorial Policy.
Crucially, they must be accurate, impartial and evidence-based
All assets must be reviewed, and if necessary revised, within 2 years of their
original approval/publication date
Format of assets
Information assets can be provided in the form of PDFs, video, audio and flash files.
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PDF documents may contain images as well as text. Formatting should be
web-friendly. PDFs should be created with Quick view feature enabled
whenever possible. File size should be no larger than 50Mb.
Video content should be provided as .mov, .avi, .wmv or .mp4 files (h264
preferred). The aspect ratio should be 16:9 and the file size limit is 100MB.
Audio files should be provided as .mp3 or .mp4 files and be no larger than
50Mb.
Flash animation files should be .swf files
Lifespan of assets
Information assets may be updated at any time. However, to comply with NHS
Choices’ editorial policy, all assets must be reviewed for clinical accuracy within two
years of their original approval/publication and, if necessary, revised. Upon upload,
an information asset will be assigned a review date of no longer than two years.
If an asset has not been reviewed/replaced or updated, it will expire and be
unpublished from the IPS automatically upon its specified review date. Before it is
unpublished, a series of reminders will be sent to the asset owner. The reminder will
be sent 6 months before expiry, a further reminder at three months, then two weeks
and finally on the day the asset is removed. Unpublished assets will be removed
from all online Information Prescriptions they were previously included in.
After an asset is unpublished, it will be accessible on the IPS for a further three
months before it is archived.
For more information, please contact:
Information Prescriptions Service, Attn: Brendan Bourne, Mail point 5C, Skipton
House, 80 London Rd, London SE1 6LH or email ips@dh.gsi.gov.uk.
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