Medicines in Mental Health Ltd


PATIENT INFORMATION

Information for patients and carers about medicines is an essential component of high quality healthcare. In mental healthcare, information available to patients is patchy and often of poor quality, yet there are compelling reasons to improve the situation, including:

  • The need to obtain informed consent for treatment

  • Ethical obligations on health professions

  • The rights enshrined in the NHS Constitution

  • Recommendations in NICE clinical guidelines

  • The need to engage patients more actively in their care

  • The need to improve outcomes from the use of medicines

Information must meet a number of minimum requirements:

  • It must be easily understood and intuitive

  • It must be evidence-based

  • It must address issues that are important to patients

  • Both patients and health professionals must be involved in its development

  • It should be accessible and easily available during all patient-facing interactions


Information impacts on knowledge, treatment decisions and the therapeutic relationship. It can – and should – be used to achieve a number of related goals.

  • To educate clinicians

  • To inform treatment selection and create consistency in therapeutic approaches

  • To educate patients and carers

  • To involve patients and carers in treatment decisions

  • To strengthen the therapeutic alliance between clinicians, patients and carers

  • To reinforce messages about the importance of adherence

The report below offers a straightforward and systematic approach to providing high quality medicines information that will meet the needs of both patients and clinicians.