Consumer health information provision in the Trent region
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045490 |
| Pages | 347-355 |
| Date | 01 April 1996 |
| Published date | 01 April 1996 |
| Author | Caroline A. Stevens,Anne Morris,Janet Rolinson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Consumer health information
provision in the Trent region
Caroline
A.
Stevens, Anne Morris
and Janet Rolinson
Department
of
Information and Library
Studies,
Loughborough University
of
Technology,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire LE11
3TU,
UK
E-mail:
R.Rolinson@lut.ac.uk
Abstract: This paper reports the findings of a part of a larger study
investigating the sources of consumer health information (CHI) available to the
public, with particular emphasis on the use of electronic sources of health
information.
During the investigation discussions were held with managers and
information officers of CHI services to examine provision. Detailed here are
examples of
the
services provided by the Trent
region.
In consideration of the
study's emphasis on the use of electronic sources of health
information,
the
availability of electronic public access community information systems
as
sources
of health information within the Trent region of the UK
is
discussed,
and
examples of such local government-run systems are
reviewed.
1.
Introduction
In 1991 the government published the
Patient's Charter (Department of
Health
1991)
which acknowledged the
value of providing consumer health in-
formation (CHI) to the general public,
giving them two 'rights'. The first
gives patients the right to have risks
and alternatives clearly explained to
them before having treatment, and the
second is the right to receive detailed
information on local health services,
including information on the standards
of service you can expect, waiting
times and local GP (general practitio-
ner) services. Subsequently, in 1992,
the government directed the Regional
Health Authorities (RHA) to set up
Regional Health Information Services
(RHIS) with the aim of providing in-
formation to the public to empower
them
to
become more active
in
relation
to their own health care (Department
of Health 1992).
In recent years a variety of services
have developed. In the light of these
developments, a study has been car-
ried out to investigate the sources of
consumer health information available
to the public, with particular emphasis
on the use of electronic sources of
health information. Part of this re-
search has entailed an investigation
into consumer health information
services, the findings of which are re-
ported in this paper. To achieve this
latter
aim,
personal visits were made to
several RHIS to discuss with the man-
agers the service they provide, the
sources of information they use and
how they see the service developing in
the future. A more in-depth case study
of the Trent region was then under-
taken. This involved having discus-
sions with project managers and infor-
mation officers of various CHI
services within the region, including a
town-based and a hospital-based serv-
ice,
to identify provision. The opinions
and ideas recounted in this paper re-
flect the views expressed by the
staff.
Part of
the
wider research project has
entailed an investigation of electronic
public access community information
systems as alternative sources of
health information. Several such sys-
tems are operational within the Trent
region and are explored using the data
gathered from a mail questionnaire
sent to all systems operational in the
UK.
2.
Consumer health information
provision
The provision of consumer health in-
formation (CHI) is increasingly seen
as being vitally important in enabling
the public to take responsibility for
maintaining and improving their
health care. Providing health informa-
tion gives the public the opportunity to
choose healthier lifestyles, to assess
the risks and benefits of alternative
treatments, and to participate in self
care,
possibly through the membership
of a self-help group (Gann 1991). In-
forming consumers who are receiving
health care has been shown to have
positive benefits; increased patient un-
derstanding leads to greater compli-
ance with treatment and a reduction in
stress,
thus aiding recovery (Boore
1977,
Hayward 1976).
There is an assortment of health in-
formation sources available
to the
gen-
eral public. The primary source is un-
doubtedly the GP (Buckland 1995;
Griffin 1994) with the media — that
is,
newspapers, magazines, television
and radio — representing the second
most important source (Griffin 1994).
GP surgeries and health centres pro-
vide leaflets on coping with illness and
health promotion while telephone
helplines such as the AIDS and na-
tional drugs helpline exist to provide
information on specific health prob-
lems (Kempson 1987). A variety of
CHI services have developed over the
The Electronic Library, Vol. 14. No. 4, August 1996 347
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