LAB TESTS ONLINE-UK ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 LAB TESTS ONLINE-UK ANNUAL REPORT Lab Tests Online-UK Mission Statement To improve the health of patients by increasing their understanding of laboratory tests Lab Tests Online-UK is an online resource designed to provide patients and carers with easy-tounderstand information about clinical laboratory tests. It is peer reviewed: Lab Tests Online-UK is written by practising laboratory doctors and scientists to help members of the public understand the many clinical laboratory tests that are used in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of disease. It is non-commercial: Lab Tests Online-UK does not search for nor receive commercial sponsorship. Support is generously provided from Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (ACB), the Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS). It is patient-centred: Its primary role is to help patients find understandable information on laboratory tests for particular diagnosis and/or condition or disease. Management structure Lab Tests Online-UK Board is accountable to the ACB through the Director of Communication and Publications. Board members 2013 Chair: Dr Danielle B. Freedman Treasurer: Dr William J. Marshall Managing Editor: Dr Sally Stock Technical Lead: Stuart Jones Marketing and Promotion: Katy Heaney Patient Liaison: Professor Jonathan Kay Patient Advocate/Lay Member: Madeleine Wang Patient Advocate/Lay Member: Dr Patricia Wilkie IBMS representative: John Stevens Royal College of Pathologists representative: Vacant Administration: Dragana Landup-Horgan Page 1 of 5

2 Under the management board sits an editorial team. The editorial team and managing editor are responsible for the website content. All editorial work is done on voluntary basis. The full list of contributors can be found on the website. Principal Editors Dr Brian Payne (news editor) Dr Rahul Joshi (haematology) Dr Shona Twaddle (biochemistry) Dr Joanna Sheldon (immunology) Dr Angela Galloway (microbiology) Dr Tim Wreghitt (virology) Dr John Schofield (histopathology) Dr Nicole Corriette (GP representative) Dr Ian Godber (website comments advisor) Historical context The Lab Tests Online concept was originated in the USA and was developed into a website by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and launched in The UK laboratory profession recognised the potential of this site at an early state and senior members of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (ACB) were successful in obtaining sufficient monies from the Health Foundation and the Department of Health to develop a UK site. Lab Tests Online-UK was launched with 1,800 web pages by the Minister of Health, Rosie Winterton in June The number of visitors to the site grew rapidly; in 2011, there were 1.5 million visits. Lab Tests Online is now part of an international collaboration of more that seventeen countries reaching patients throughout the world. Communications and interest come from public across the educational spectrum with approximately some 25% of visitors being healthcare professionals. While the site adopts a language and presentation style appropriate to easy public communication, where possible, the test and disease information provided reflect the different needs and expectations of all visitors. The website The Lab Tests Online-UK team monitor site activity and identify the popular pages, search engines and links that carry visitors to the website. The content of the site continues to grow and evolve and the content is reviewed and updated at regular intervals. The overtly independent and professional approach of Lab Tests Online-UK is increasingly what separates it from other information sites. Page 2 of 5

3 A change to Google's search algorithms has seen a drop in Google referrals from an average of 107,000 hits per month in 2012 to 46,000 hits per month in Hit rate from other sources has remained constant. An almost identical drop in visitor rate has been observed by the other English language sites in the US and Australia. The US Lab Tests Online team are investigating the cause of the issue and we hope for a swift resolution. The Lab Tests Online-UK app has been a major success with over 6000 downloads since the June launch. twitter account grows steadily with over 300 followers, providing them with a direct route for engagement with our team website statistics New pages about the tests developed: 10 New pages about the conditions developed: 5 News items: 13 Pages reviewed: 64 Visits: 1,049,789 Unique visitors: 848, 973 Page views: 2,843,196 App downloads: 6,159 Website enquiries/comments received: 241 International profile Lab Tests Online has been described as a patient-centred initiative of national importance of definitive laboratory test information source. In July 2012, Lab Tests Online received an Award of Distinction in the 18th Annual Communicator Awards. In winning the award for writing in the website category, Lab Tests Online confirmed its position as one of the premier healthcare information resources on the Internet. Although Lab Tests Online has been developed for patients, surveys and user feedback suggest that it is also regularly used by medical professionals. In October 2012, Lab Tests Online has been named one of the 100 Best Nursing Websites by NursingbyNurses.com Lab Tests Online-UK editorial board has been successful in working with the AACC in promoting the adoption of Lab Tests Online in countries across the world initially in Europe and now further afield in Australia, China, Korea and Brazil. Currently, there are 16 international sites using 13 languages. Many non-uk sites initially based their material on that available on the UK site. The UK site continues to have a major editorial influence on Lab Tests Online worldwide. Page 3 of 5

4 Closer to home The Department of Health's Information Strategy (2012) has set a ten year framework for transforming information provision that will enable patients and the public to have more control of the health and care information they need. Lab Tests Online-UK supports this initiative and is engaging with users to improve the quality of their patient experience, by promoting the web site and newly launched app as essential patient resources to enable better understanding and control of their care and treatment. The Lab Tests Online-UK App was officially launched on 10 th June 2013 at an event at the Royal College of Pathologists. The app is part of the NHS App library and has received 4.5/5 starred reviews on my health apps website, 5/5 starred reviews on itunes and 4.5/5 starred reviews on Android. Lab Tests Online-UK has taken opportunities in educating the public and healthcare leaders through the media, meetings and conference platforms Lab Tests Online-UK has responded to inaccurate articles published in the media that misled or provided false hope. This has included articles on the use of C-reactive protein and the correct method for diagnosing chronic variable immune deficiency. NHS Choices, Patients know best and SystmOne link directly to Lab Tests Online-UK pages, as do many hospital laboratories that have a public facing website. Lab Tests Online-UK was named website of the week by Dr Miriam Stoppard OBE in a leading national newspaper, the Daily Mirror, 29 th August The future Lab Tests Online-UK objectives for the next three years: to develop and implement a marketing plan to increase annual traffic by at least 10% year on year and to promote the use of the app to patients and health professionals to ensure that GP s have direct links from their surgery to Lab Tests Online-UK website to monitor and assess Lab Tests Online-UK impact in primary care setting. to increase links with other public facing websites, e.g. national health related charities and others to secure permanent funding to support these activities to work with GP and patient record system suppliers to further integrate LTOL into patient facing applications. Page 4 of 5

5 Financial details Lab Tests Online-UK is administered through the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine and does not publish separate accounts. These are included within the Association's audited accounts. It had a nominal balance at the beginning of the year of 51, Expenditure (2012 in brackets) was 24, ( 19,991.44), the major item contributing to this being the salary of the part-time administrator; the difference from the previous year was primarily due to costs relating to the development and launch of the Lab Test Online-UK app. Income (a grant from the Institute of Biomedical Scientists) was 10, ( 20,000.00), the Royal College of Pathologists' grant having not been renewed, leaving a closing balance of 37, The ACB contributes to the project through the provision of additional administrative support as required, and by providing accommodation for meetings. Discussions are taking place to secure the long term funding of the project. Lab Tests Online-UK c/o Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine Tooley St, London SE1 2TU [email protected] Website: Page 5 of 5