Heartbeat: Creating leaflets – follow the process

May 24, 2021

We all know the importance of keeping patient information leaflets up-to-date – and this also includes those which are focused on COVID-19.

A process has been introduced to ensure that those produced about the virus are approved by Tactical – the emergency response team which makes the operational decisions needed to keep the Trust functioning and our patients and colleagues safe – before they are distributed to patients.

The library and knowledge service should be contacted in the first instance when a leaflet needs to be produced and if it is related to the virus, should then be marked as COVID-urgent to ensure that it is expedited.

The leaflet will then go through the usual assurance process, making sure source material has been referenced and patients consulted, but once it has been approved by the library service and the end user, it will then be sent to Tactical for final sign off. Any changes recommended by Tactical will then be actioned and the leaflet will be ready to distribute. A flow chart explaining the process has been created and can be found on Connect, under the library services tab, which sits under teams.

Nicola Ager, Service Development Librarian, said: “The purpose of introducing this process is to ensure the COVID-related leaflet goes through the correct approvals before it is given to the patient. It’s an important step and will mean that leaflets are created alongside the latest national guidance.”

Services are encouraged to share digital versions of patient information leaflets rather than printing when appropriate.

For more information about leaflets please email swb-tr.clinicallibrary@nhs.net.