The latest figures released by the Canterbury District Health Board's patient information site shows it's being embraced by the public.

HealthInfo websites are managed alongside HealthPathways websites by a technical writing team at Streamliners and each feature more than 2000 pages of patient-friendly health advice. There are currently three editions (Canterbury, Aoraki, and the West Coast) which produce content in parallel with the Canterbury Community, Aoraki, and West Coast HealthPathways teams.

HealthInfo Canterbury launched in January 2011 and has gone from strength to strength as a patient information hub that complements its HealthPathways clinical information counterpart. The latest viewing figures show that it's reached 160,000 page views per quarter. It services a population of just under 400,000 people.

High growth: The latest figures from Canterbury HealthInfo.

HealthInfo Canterbury Chief Clinical Editor Dr Lucinda Whiteley explains how the site delivers value to both patients and general practice teams as it works alongside its sister site Canterbury Community HealthPathways.

"It's a great local website for health professionals to direct people to, which can help support people managing their own health. It can also help make it easier for health professionals to follow the local guidance on HealthPathways during consults, by having information which is in line with the content of clinical pathways, but is designed to give out to the public."

All the content on a HealthInfo site is developed and reviewed in the same way as a clinical pathway on a HealthPathways site, with Dr Whiteley working closely with Canterbury Community HealthPathways Senior Clinical Editor Dr Denise Nicholson to ensure the accuracy of the content.

But crucially the advice is edited for the general public to make it as easy to follow as possible. HealthInfo Writing Team Leader Stewart Pegg says it's this commitment to plain English that makes the site chime so well with local people.

“Health professionals have their own language filled with terms that have precise meanings for them, but are confusing for the general public. The HealthInfo team is committed to making health information easier to read and understand. This makes it much more likely that people will read the information about their health condition and follow the advice.”

Patient information hubs like HealthInfo will be one of the many formats discussed at the 2016 HealthPathways Conference this week, in the plenary Exploring ways to integrate patient information with HealthPathways being facilitated by Dr Whiteley.

For more information, contact Stewart Pegg.