The quality of our information
Whoever you are – patient, carer, health professional or member of the public – you need access to trustworthy health information.
For many years Lyme Disease Action’s information was recognised as high quality, and accredited under the NHS Information Standard. That has now been replaced by a new mark of quality: the PIF Tick.
The PIF TICK is the UK-wide Quality Mark for Health Information awarded by The Patient Information Forum. Having the PIF TICK on leaflets, websites, apps or videos shows an organisation’s health information has been through a professional and robust production process. To be awarded the PIF TICK an organisation must show its health information production process meets 10 criteria:
- Systems: Information is created using a consistent and documented process.
- Training: Staff receive ongoing training and support.
- Need: Resources meet a genuine need.
- Evidence: Information is based on reliable, up-to-date evidence which is communicated clearly.
- Involving users: Users are involved in the development of information.
- Health inequalities: Information is written to meet literacy, language and accessibility needs (*).
- Content and design: Information is clearly communicated, easy to access and navigate.
- Feedback: There is a clear process for users to provide feedback.
- Disseminating: Information is promoted to maximise reach.
- Impact: The impact of information is measured.
* Note that we aim to inform those who are looking for in depth information, so although we try to make this accessible to everyone, inevitably some of the information we provide is technical and detailed. We hope this helps you to communicate with health professionals.
Maintaining information is a lot of work, but we firmly believe it is vital. Trustworthy health information enables patients and health professionals to take informed decisions and is essential to patient safety.
All website pages and leaflets bearing The PIF Tick logo are regularly reviewed, generally on a 3 year cycle, sometimes more frequently. We maintain an on-line library of medical and scientific papers, enabling us to keep abreast of any advances and our information is updated regularly.