Patient Information Forum
  • Follow PIF on Twitter
  • PIF on Linked In

PiF Annual Conference 2012
Choice – valueless without meaningful information

1 May 2012, 9.30am - 5.00pm
Thinktank Science Museum, Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG

Health information for patients and the public is the foundation of patient-centred care, shared decision making, self-management and choice. 

Liberating the NHS: Equity and Excellence highlighted the importance of shared decision making, which has at its heart the provision of good information. The recent Future Forum phase 2 recommendations take this further, stating that “The NHS must recognise that: information is an integral part of the therapeutic process; communication matters.”

Despite the commitment to consumer health information in policy, local investment in health information is generally uncoordinated or absent, and in some areas the resources and expertise needed to integrate information services are limited and thinly spread. Health information provision is often under-resourced – funding in the voluntary sector is even tighter than ever and few NHS Trusts have a dedicated budget for information. Health information experts often work alone and have limited opportunities to develop their skills, share expertise or keep up to date. 

This makes this, the seventh Patient Information Forum annual conference, the must-attend event for health information professionals.

Bringing together experts from across voluntary, NHS, commercial and academic sectors, the scene is set by putting the patient view of information at central stage.  Keynote sessions bring you up to date with national information strategy and shared decision making. Workshops include those that show you how to develop information that enables – by changing behaviour, addressing lifestyle issues or improving health literacy and those that show you how to produce information that aids self management, including access to records and using social media. You will hear from speakers that can bring you the latest work on the Information Standard, Information Prescriptions and evaluating information. The conference concludes with a crucial review, and debate, around what constitutes good quality consumer health information.

If you communicate with patients and the public about their health, this is your conference.

Plenary sessions:

  • Implementing Shared Decision Making: A Dermatology Patient’s View - Mr Nick Goldthorpe 
  • Implementing Shared Decision Making: A MAGIC View from General Practice - Dr Dave Tomson, GP, Collingwood Health Group & Primary Care Lead, MAGIC (MAking Good decisions In Collaboration) 
  • Consumer health information and the Information Strategy for England (speaker to be confirmed)
  • Evaluating the impact of information - Amy Bowen, Director of Service Development, Multiple Sclerosis Trust 
  • The power of patient controlled records – Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, Founder, Patients Know Best
  • A perfect fit: Tailoring information and improving choice to support people with Long Term Conditions – Lesley McShane, Patient Information Specialist, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust NHS 
  • Health literacy - tailoring information to patient skills as well as patient need – Prof Gill Rowlands, Director, Health Literacy UK Group 
  • The Information Standard 2 years in:  the scheme to date and future plans - Colin MacKenzie, Contract Director, The Information Standard 
  • Developing a quality resource: the BMA Patient Information Award review – Richard Jones, Director Patient Information Awards, BMA Library  

Workshop sessions:

  • Creating information that changes behaviour, improves health and saves money – John Isitt, Founding Director, Resonant Media (winners of the Resource of the Year 2011 at the BMA Patient Information Awards)
  • Developing a patient decision aid – Anna Sayburn, Senior Editor, BMJ Evidence Centre 
  • Developing information that impacts on lifestyle: Developing Same Again - Emilie Stone, Substance Misuse Worker, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, winners of the Innovation category at the BMA Patient Information Awards 
  • Clear by Design: How to improve the health literacy of your materials – Cally Clarkson, Director of Strategy and Heather Bennett,  HealthEd 
  • Using patient records to improve mental health – Mike Denis, Director of Information Strategy, Ray Johannsen-Chapman, Strategic Lead for PPI & Ninjeri Pandit, Programme Manager, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust 
  • Harnessing technology to select and support patients to self-manage - Stefan Wisbauer, Managing Director, UK Preventive Medicine 
  • Developing an app for breast awareness - Eluned Hughes, Public Health and Information Manager, Breakthrough Breast Cancer 
  • Effective use of social media – David Hammond, Acting Engagement & Communications Manager, NHS Sefton (Winner EHI best use of social media) 

Lunchtime Show and Tell sessions this year look at social media, with three 5 minutes sessions on using Twitter, using Facebook and Blogging

Click here to download the conference brochure and booking form.

Click here to book online 

If you're interested in exhibition or sponsorship opportunities, contact Carol Stevenson or Clementina Taft at conference@pifonline.org.uk

The PiF annual conference 2012 is sponsored by The Information Standard - for health and social care information you can trust.

Page last edited: 20 February 2012