HealthInfo Canterbury
HealthInfo content strategy
HealthInfo is the Waitaha Canterbury, South Canterbury and Southern health systems' health information website. These Te Whatu Ora regions want to ensure that no matter where an individual comes into contact with the local health system, they get pointed to HealthInfo as the source of reliable and current information.
One purpose of HealthInfo is to provide high-quality information, vetted and approved locally that health professionals can refer their patients to for diagnosed conditions. Another purpose is to provide the same high-quality information for people to access when searching for general health and wellbeing information.
Traditionally, written information provided by health professionals has been manually organised and the hard copies are often out of date. The information on HealthInfo is held and used electronically which means that health professionals and the public can be sure they're using information that's constantly reviewed, updated and added to.
All the information provided on HealthInfo is approved by the clinical advisers. The clinical advisers are all qualified health professionals working in the local health systems.
To help people use HealthInfo, health professionals can write a search term on a HealthInfo card (shown here) and give it to their patient. The patient or their family can then access the information on any of their personal electronic devices or publicly at their local library.
Health professionals can also print information for their patient by following the HealthInfo links in HealthPathways.
Content strategy
- Good quality health information is already available in print and on the internet. But it's difficult for people to know whether the information they've found is reliable and relevant to their local health system. HealthInfo's purpose isn't to recreate health information that already exists elsewhere, but to direct patients to information that has been carefully vetted and filtered to ensure that it's reliable and relevant.
- The criteria for what types of information are included on HealthInfo and what types of information aren't included are given below.
- When looking for information, local information is given first preference, New Zealand information second, Australian third and overseas last.
- Where suitable information is available on the internet, HealthInfo provides links to that information.
- Where suitable information is available but not on the internet, the information is added to HealthInfo with the approval of the information owner.
- Where suitable information isn't available, information is written by a local health professional.
- All existing and new information and links are checked and approved by a clinical editor before being added to HealthInfo.
- Where relevant, HealthInfo provides links to support organisations. When looking for support organisations, local support organisations are given first preference, New Zealand support organisations second, Australian third and overseas last.
- The information on HealthInfo is in a format that can be understood by most users. The information is in written, pictorial and video formats as appropriate.
- The information in HealthInfo follows the EQIP (Ensuring Quality Information for Patients) patient information guidelines (produced by the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London).
- The information on HealthInfo isn't generally translated into other languages but links are provided to translated resources where available. Specific information is translated if there's an urgent need for the information to be available in other languages.
Criteria for inclusion
- Information about the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and management of a condition.
- Information about the post-discharge management of a condition. This could include a description of community-based services available to help after discharge.
- Information about support organisations and groups.
- Information about prevention, reducing risk, lifestyle and so on.
- Self-help information, advice and recommendations, such as breastfeeding advice, taking medication while breastfeeding, keeping safe in an emergency and flu vaccinations.
- Information about medications.
- General information about surgery, medical procedures and tests and preparing for hospital visits and operations.
- Information about end-of-life planning and palliative care.
- Information about the availability and eligibility of funding and entitlements for health-related services.
- Information about where to go for help about bullying, abuse and so on.
- General information about health rights, health information and privacy.
- Information about public health promotions.
Criteria for exclusion
- Pre-admission preparation and checks (this should be sent to patients by Te Whatu Ora, but letters and other information can refer to or link to HealthInfo as appropriate).
- Locations, hours and other details of services (this should be on the local Te Whatu Ora public website, but HealthInfo can link to this).
- Details of specific people in hospital departments, private practices and so on, including specific phone numbers and email addresses.
- Clinical information that requires explanation by a health professional or the health professional to fill in specific information, such as an anxiety action plan or exercise programmes.
- General promotional material.
Private healthcare providers
- Private healthcare providers are not normally listed on HealthInfo unless they provide publicly funded services.
- HealthInfo links to professional body member directories like Physiotherapy New Zealand – Find a physio and New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists' Association – Find a therapist near you.
- It also links to health service directories like Healthpages and Healthpoint.
Exceptions can be made to all the criteria above if there are good reasons for doing so.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed September 2020.
Review key: HIIHP-148325
