Our research into patient groups across the world consistently showed that, what patients felt was crucial information was ignored by clinicians. In fact for some patients groups the biggest gap between what patients needed and what they got was information.

If patients don’t receive what they need to know, they will not be able to be as active in their own care as we need them to be.

Often the clinical explanation is fine but it rarely helps to alleviate the fear and anxiety that comes with a diagnosis.

Information for patients that they can use improves clinical effectiveness, safety and patient experience. It needs to adhere to quality standards, be user-tested, and to be useful it needs to be co-designed and co-produced. Information must also be designed to meet different levels of health literacy.

It is now a basic requirement for organizations to have ways of communicating online and through mobile phone technology. Using clinically accredited apps to support chronic conditions and individual episodes of care, such as maternity care is the next step.

To make full use of this, it will be important to improve health literacy and activation – there is some evidence about how to do this.

I wrote earlier this week about the parallels between health screening and the wealth check that the Guidance guaranteed by impending legislation.

To spell it out

1. We need to provide information in the Guidance session that is what people actually need, not what certain financial “doctors”, think they need. We need RESEARCH AND FEEDBACK
2. The “biggest gap” between what many “at retirement” get and what they want is information. THE SESSIONS NEED TO ENGAGE AND INFORM
3. Information we can “use”, which allows people to be as active in their financial well-being as they need to be. GUIDANCE NEEDS TO EMPOWER people to DIY
4. Information needs to adhere to quality standards – WE NEED A TEMPLATE and RULES
5. Information needs to be user tested- WE NEED PILOTS
6. The Information needs to be CO-DESIGNED and CO-PRODUCED with users outside the financial services industry.
7. The information must be designed (and delivered) to meet the levels of financial literacy of EACH PERSON guided ( which may be a judgement call from the Guide)
8. The information must be available on the SCREEN OF A PHONE and at the TOUCH of an APP.
9. This information is needed on a “CHRONIC” basis (on-going) as well as at the “ACUTE” moment when the big initial decisions are taken.
10. There is EXTERNAL EVIDENCE of how to do this (and the NHS are pioneering in this respect).

My advice to TPAS and MAS is to get hold of the people in the NHS who are doing this research and learn from them. The financial services industry has more to learn from healthcare than it might care to admit!