Informing the design of the new Public Health England portal: A ...

A report by the National Heart Forum

Informing the design of the new Public Health England portal: A survey of information needs to establish priorities

Authors: Helena Korjonen, Jennifer Ford, Emma Hughes National Heart Forum Victoria House, 7th Floor Southampton Row London WC1B 4AD England

Produced in collaboration with the Public Health England Transition Team Date: 13 February 2012.

National Heart Forum, Feb 2012

Informing the design of the PHE portal

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About the authors

Helena Korjonen, Director of Information Services Helena is a chartered information professional (MCLIP) with a PhD from the Department of Information Studies from UCL, an MA in Information Studies and a BSc (Hons.) in International Studies. Her research interests are public health informatics, the social web, digital preservation, human geography and climate change. Jennifer Ford, Information Manager Jenni is a qualified information professional with an MA in Information Studies and a BSc (Hons.) in Anatomy and Human Biology. She is currently undertaking a distance learning postgraduate diploma course in Public Health (Informatics) and has also taken short courses in information literacy education and understanding cardiovascular diseases. Jenni is also a committee member for the CILIP special interest group UKeIG. Emma Hughes, Graduate Trainee: Information Services Emma is a graduate trainee in information services whilst undertaking a distance learning postgraduate MSc course in Information and Library studies. She also has a BSc (Hons.) in Philosophy and Psychology.

Disclaimer Although this report was produced in collaboration with the PHE Transition Team, the discussion and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the DH or PHE. While we have made every effort to ensure the information in this document is accurate, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of that information; and it cannot accept liability for any loss or damages of any kind resulting from reliance on the information or guidance this document contains.



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Table of Contents 1.

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 10 About the National Heart Forum ................................................................................................ 10 About Public Health England and the portal ............................................................................... 10 Terminology ............................................................................................................................... 11

2.

Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 12 Approach to research ................................................................................................................. 12 Study design and data collection methods ................................................................................. 12 Limitations ................................................................................................................................. 13 Data which has not been analysed ......................................................................................... 13 Sample size............................................................................................................................. 13 Response rate......................................................................................................................... 13 Formulating survey questions .................................................................................................... 14 Testing the survey ...................................................................................................................... 14 Audience .................................................................................................................................... 14 Process of disseminating the survey ........................................................................................... 14

3.

Results........................................................................................................................................ 16 General summary of results ....................................................................................................... 16 About the respondents .............................................................................................................. 16 Respondent organisations ...................................................................................................... 16 Respondent job title ............................................................................................................... 17 Developing the portal ................................................................................................................ 20 Priority resources ................................................................................................................... 20 Portal functionality ................................................................................................................. 22 Social network use of respondents ......................................................................................... 23 Desired portal provisions ........................................................................................................ 24 Key collaborators and resource providers for the portal ......................................................... 27 Desired forms of portal support ............................................................................................. 29



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Desired feedback mechanisms for portal ................................................................................ 30 Information needs ..................................................................................................................... 31 Time spent searching for information ..................................................................................... 31 Information uses of respondents ............................................................................................ 31 Respondent’s essential resources ........................................................................................... 32 Respondents time spent in the office ..................................................................................... 34 Mobile information use .......................................................................................................... 34 Preferred methods of organisation of information ................................................................. 35 Current awareness of respondents ......................................................................................... 36 Respondent access to resources ............................................................................................. 37 Timing of information ............................................................................................................. 38 Information quality................................................................................................................. 40 Respondent confidence in working online .............................................................................. 41 Respondent confidence in research skills ............................................................................... 42 Additional comments ............................................................................................................. 42 4.

Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 44 Portal specific questions ............................................................................................................ 44 Priorities for development on the portal ................................................................................ 44 Portal functionality ................................................................................................................. 45 Portal provisions ..................................................................................................................... 45 Suggested stakeholders/collaborators .................................................................................... 46 How to organise information on the PHE portal ..................................................................... 46 Feedback mechanisms for portal users ................................................................................... 47 Desired support for the portal ................................................................................................ 47 Information behaviour ............................................................................................................... 47 Social networking ................................................................................................................... 47 Weekly time spent searching for information ......................................................................... 47 Most used existing resources ................................................................................................. 48



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Time spent out of the office and using information on the go ................................................ 48 Keeping up to date and access to resources ........................................................................... 48 Timing of information ............................................................................................................. 48 Markers of quality in information ........................................................................................... 49 Confidence working online ..................................................................................................... 49 Research skills ........................................................................................................................ 49 Additional comments ............................................................................................................. 49 5.

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 50

6.

Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 51 Results.................................................................................................................................... 51 Next steps .............................................................................................................................. 52

7.

References ................................................................................................................................. 53

8.

Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 54 Survey questions .................................................................................................................... 54 Audience ................................................................................................................................ 54 Survey invitation email ........................................................................................................... 54



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Executive summary Between November 2011 and February 2012, the National Heart Forum (NHF) conducted a study on behalf of the Public Health England Transition Team, providing evidence of information needs that face public health practitioners in England. The report consists of the results of the information needs analysis that took place and which will be used by the Information & Intelligence (I&I) Transition Team in building the new Public Health England (PHE) portal. The portal will meet the needs of a variety of professionals and members of the public, from informing commissioning of healthcare services, to planning long-term approaches, to supporting the transparency agenda by providing benchmarking information about how successfully different organisations are tackling the challenges to health in their local areas. Within organisations there are several challenges, cultures and policies. There are differences in the availability and accessibility of information resources available, which can make it difficult for public health practitioners to find and use data, information and intelligence. There is also a growth of public health information made available by several agencies within the changing public health landscape in England. Different types of information are sourced, created, exchanged and disseminated throughout different projects and collaborations in public health. There are raw data, datasets, information, intelligence, evidence, tools, case studies and other pieces of information which each bring specific challenges. Some of these challenges relate to IT infrastructure, formats of information, type and quality of content and research, the amount of data and information, copyright and ownership issues. There is also a lack of evidence, evaluations, standardised taxonomies and issues with access controls or barriers to access. There are also published and unpublished pieces of data and information, some information is found in grey literature, e.g. presentations, internal documentation and emails, other information is only available with subscription. There is a blurring of formal and informal communication with information that exists in discussion forums, in blogs and other social media. Various delivery methods of information exist, making searching of and access to public health information complex and time-consuming. Related to these challenges are the concepts of trust and confidence, but also information skills of those needing information. There is a need to organise and deliver information so that the wider public health workforce has access to the information quickly and at the point of need without barriers restricting access to quality controlled information. National Heart Forum, Feb 2012


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The development of a PHE portal, guiding public health practitioners to information that they need at the point when they need it, offers a solution to the problem of bringing public health information together in one place. It is difficult to provide a comprehensive picture of the public health landscape and the workforce within it in England. There are many organisations within and outside the health and care sectors that are concerned with public health and there are a wide range of job roles that are involved in public health, some which need to be included in future research. It is difficult to reach each of those individuals who have information needs and rely on specific resources to aid decisionmaking. It is also not possible to imagine an ‘average’ public health practitioner and a future user of the PHE portal, but we can make attempts at summarising identified needs against organisational need or job role need. This research has aimed to provide an insight into the daily lives of those public health practitioners who are likely to use the PHE portal for evidence-based decision-making.

The 222 individuals who responded to this survey are from these organisations: 65% public health in the NHS, 9% Third/Voluntary Sector, 8% Local Government, 5% Policy in DH, 5% public health in Local Authority, 1% Commissioners, 1% other Gov. departments and in these job roles: 16% Public Health Consultant, 12% Director of public health, 11% Public Health Specialist, 9% Public Health Analyst, 6% Policy Lead, 5% Information Specialist, 2% Researchers, 2% Director of Childrens’ Services, 2% Commissioning Lead and 35% are classed as ‘other’.

The main finding of this research is that all organisations and job roles have clear differing needs for functionality, e.g. tools, software, the access to information, and for resources. The Public Health Outcome Framework, tools, JSNAs and geographical maps of health and disease were listed as priority resources. Respondents want searchable databases, repositories of data and atlases. Several respondents mentioned the need for small geographical and population datasets. We had requests for comparative data and cost effectiveness information. They want the portal to have a good search function and the ability to filter data/information. They want the portal to be user friendly and it should link to external resources, not replicate existing sources of information. Respondents suggested a number of collaborators and external links for the PHE portal.

Individuals spend a lot of time searching for information, sometimes over 6 hours per week and they have indicated that timing of information is important. The most important resources that respondents cannot live without are the NHS Information Centre, data and Google. Half the National Heart Forum, Feb 2012


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respondents have told us that they are not up to date in all areas in which they work. They also face barriers to access information, mentioning information overload and lack of time. All the groups that responded also spend time out of the office regularly and half the respondents have a device that allows them to access information on the go which they do. We also know that accessing information via a mobile device is increasing. Individuals highlighted that they lack confidence in aspects such as internet security, social media and copyright. Some also indicated that they would like further training in information and research skills.

This report will summarise the results of the survey, discuss the findings and provide some recommendations for consideration of the I&I team at PHE.

We anticipate that this is the first in many user needs surveys to come and we at the National Heart Forum are pleased to be able to contribute to the evidence-base around the information needs of public health practitioners in England.

National Heart Forum 09 February 2012



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1. Introduction About the National Heart Forum The National Heart Forum (NHF) is a charitable alliance of professional and public interest organisations working to reduce the risk of avoidable chronic diseases by developing evidencebased public health policy and supporting its implementation through advocacy and information provision. The NHF is based in London with small integrated teams of staff working on policy research and development, epidemiological and economic modelling of chronic diseases and on information provision. The NHF’s work contributes to public health policy thinking and initiatives at the national, global and local levels. The NHF is host to Health Action Partnership International (HAPI) – a community interest company working across the world to promote action to address the social and economic determinants of health. The NHF also hosts the Obesity Learning Centre, an online resource for people working in obesity prevention and healthy weight management, and PANacea, the online network for the physical activity and nutrition community, both supported by the Department of Health. A subsidiary company of the NHF (Micro Health Simulations) offers consultancy for epidemiological modelling work, to clients working internationally, nationally and locally. The NHF is publicly funded through grants and contracts from charities, government and statutory agencies and from membership subscriptions. It does not accept funds from commercial organisations.

About Public Health England and the portal The new executive agency, Public Health England1 will: deliver services to national and local government, the NHS and the public (including delivering an information and intelligence service, disseminating evidence and best practice and promoting the use of social marketing and behavioural insight techniques) lead for public health (including promoting transparency and accountability across the system by publishing information and evidence, providing evidence and advice on the best operational means to achieve strategic goals, and working with partners to build the evidence base from research and experience) support the development of the specialist and wider public health workforce. Within the public health white paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People the Government consulted on whether it would be desirable to develop a single, authoritative and accessible web-based evidence system for public health. Responses to the consultation were strongly supportive of the

1

Please note that the time of this reports publication, the creation of Public Health England and the subsequent delivery of it's functions are still subject to the passing of the Health and Social care Bill.



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need to join-up the various high quality sources of information and evidence for public health and to help individuals to navigate the complex array of tools and resources available.

The Information and Intelligence (I&I) Team within the broader Public Health England Transition Team are working towards establishing the requirements for a web portal that aims to meet the information and evidence needs of a variety of professionals and the public.

The aims of this report The study we performed aimed to inform the planning of the PHE portal by establishing needs and priorities of public health practitioners in England through an online survey with the intention to run focus groups close thereafter. This report will pull together the results of the online survey conducted between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012. The survey invited a sample audience to provide responses and comments on their information needs and on development ideas for the PHE portal. This report will also provide a comparative summary of findings with recommendations on next steps in the development of the PHE portal. The report will be supplemented by the results of focus groups that test and build on findings to reach recommendations for improved access to public health information. This supplement will be made available in spring 2012.

Terminology I&I

Information & Intelligence

n=

Numbers (of respondents)

NHF

National Heart Forum

PHE

Public Health England

PHE Portal

Public Health England Portal

Transition Team

The team that is currently involved in designing and setting up Public Health England



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2. Methodology Approach to research The study is named: Informing the design of the new Public Health England portal: A survey of information needs to establish priorities Part I of the study aimed to establish information needs of a select group of public health practitioners and establish requirements and development priorities for the build of the PHE portal via an online survey.

Survey live between 16.12.2011 and 23.1.2012

Survey results analysed Report with recommendations for further research and next steps

Focus groups

Setting survey questions Testing survey

Information needs survey using SurveyMonkey

Develop actions

Develop methodology

Survey phase

Set up

Part II of the study will report the results of the focus group discussions to establish in-depth requirements in order to build the PHE portal. The focus groups (Part II) will be held in March and published as a separate supplement to this report. Focus group discussions Results to feed into overall actions

Figure: Approach to the research

Study design and data collection methods In order to establish information needs and their responses to questions around the build of the PHE Portal, it was clear that the study needed to be an online survey to reach the intended audience. The results of the survey will form a comprehensive picture of information needs in the various audience groups and how they perceive the development of the PHE Portal. Research ethics approval was not required as we did not collect any personal data or information from respondents. Survey Monkey, an online survey tool, was used to collect data from the group of public health practitioners. Data was collected through the survey gathering a mix of qualitative and quantitative information. Qualitative data collected via the survey took the form of free text answers to a number of questions, as well as additional information provided through free text options associated with many of the multiple choice and matrix questions in the survey. Excel was used to analyse the data and to generate the figures in this report. Coding and frequency analysis of responses was carried out in order to analyse the qualitative data. This involved coding of participant responses to categorise and group the responses. Where possible, codes were drawn from language and phrasing used by respondents, in order to retain the context of responses. Numbers of responses matching codes generated for each qualitative answer were counted and National Heart Forum, Feb 2012


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entered into tables in the form of frequency data. In this way qualitative data has been converted into quantitative data for the purposes of analysis in this report. However in order to retain as much of the meaning and information given in qualitative answers as possible, we have drawn direct quotations from survey responses to support the code and frequency data. The data from this survey has been analysed by splitting into several different data sets. A general analysis of the complete data set (with all responses combined and analysed together) was initially carried out. The results of this stage of analysis are featured in Chapter 4 of this report. In order to draw out the differences between respondent groups existing within the data, we have also created split data sets, where data is grouped by employment organisation type (e.g. Public Health in the NHS, Public Health in Local Authority) and by job title (e.g. Director of Public Health, Public Health Analyst). The analyses of these split data sets are included in appendices to this document.

Limitations As with all research there are some limitations to our study. Data which has not been analysed In some cases the groups of differing job title and organisation type were too small (n=