Operating a patient medicines helpline: a survey study exploring current practice in England using the RE-AIM evaluation framework

Table 5 Compliance with national standards for ‘satisfactory’ and ‘commendable’ levels of patient medicines helpline promotion

National standards: Helpline promotion		Percentage of NHS Trusts meeting each standard^a
‘Satisfactory’ Standards	The helpline is promoted at all of the healthcare organisation’s sites.	59% (64/109)
	Promotional materials identify access times and types of enquiries patients/carers can make.	40% (44/109)
	The helpline is promoted to discharged inpatients by methods agreed with patients locally.	6% (6/100)
	Total compliance with promotion ‘satisfactory’ standards.	3% (3/100)
‘Commendable’ Standards	The helpline is also promoted to outpatients.	84% (91/108)
	Additional promotional methods are used, such as patient leaflets and the NHS Trust website^b.	42% (46/109)
	Total compliance with promotion ‘commendable’ standards.	40% (43/108)
Total compliance with both ‘satisfactory’ and ‘commendable’ promotion standards		2% (2/99)

Note. Although 117 of 226 acute, mental health, specialist, and community NHS Trusts reported providing a patient medicines helpline, not all NHS Trusts answered every survey question
^aNumbers in parentheses show the actual numbers of NHS Trusts that met the standard, out of the total number of Trusts which answered the survey question pertaining to the standard
^bEighty-two Trusts reported that their helpline was promoted using leaflets or business cards that are given to patients (75%). Forty-two Trusts reported that their helpline was advertised on the Trust website (38%). Forty Trusts reported that their helpline was promoted on medicines labels or on medicines bag labels (37%). Thirty-six Trusts reported that their helpline was promoted on the patient’s discharge summary (33%). Thirty Trusts reported that their helpline was promoted using posters in clinical areas (27%). Twenty-two Trusts reported that staff routinely tell patients about the helpline (20%). The median number of promotional methods used was two. The maximum number of promotional methods used by a single Trust was seven

ISSN: 1472-6963