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Who produces health and social care information?
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Last modified date:12 October 2007
This is a summary of market research conducted by COI in 2007.
The size of the market
We know that there are more than 120,000 organisations involved in the health and social care sectors in England. The number of those that say they produce information for the public is high, at around 50,000.
However, research has highlighted that a much smaller number of organisations produce the vast majority of health and social care information. The bulk of the marketplace tells us that they do not regularly engage in information production, but instead produce one-off leaflets or occasional specialised information for the public, localised information specific to their community, or may have an informational website.
Market segmentation
Research investigated which organisations produce what proportion of the health and social care information on offer in England.
- 37% is produced by charities
- 36% is produced by the public sector (local authorities and NHS organisations)
- 19% is produced by the commercial sector
- 8% comes from other sources
Market penetration
Research highlighted that while there are a huge number of organisations that produce health and social care information, the bulk of information is produced by a core group of organisations:
- fewer than 1000 charities produce the bulk of information that comes from the third sector
- fewer than 500 organisations produce the information that comes from the public sector
- fewer than 500 commercial organisations produce a majority of information from this sector
- in total, approximately 85% of information is produced by this core group
- organisations producing the remaining 15% of information are also important to the success of the scheme, as they produce specialised information and address local concerns.
Estimating take-up
A clear majority of those surveyed expressed an interest in the scheme, and results of the survey indicate strong take-up.
- 68% or organisations surveyed said they were interested in the scheme
- 59% of organisations surveyed said they intend to join the scheme
Benefits for information producers
Information producers see benefits of the scheme as including:
- membership clearly demonstrating the quality of their information
- building confidence for end users that the organisation is adhering to best practice
- membership would help end users know who to trust
- the scheme may help smaller organisations to be considered in the same way as larger ones
- it would be a ‘stamp of approval’ for the organisations’ system of information production
- health professionals may be more likely to use information if they think they can trust it
- health professionals giving more information to people who need it
- the scheme could raise awareness of the organisation
- it would help us to unify an organisations information production processes
- members being able to influence the accreditation process from the inside
- the public would be reassured
- having consistent standards for information production systems would benefit information producers in general.
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