1: The Mental Health Telephone Helpline

The Mental Health Telephone Helpline provides an information service for mental health patients in an area of England. It is run from a Hospital, but is staffed by volunteers. Its main role is to refer patients to appropriate support services. A range of these exist in a variety of sectors (including primary, secondary and voluntary), each maintaining different criteria for accepting referrals. Helpline staff employ a number of resources for this purpose, including leaflets, information printed out from the Internet, information provided on an ad hoc basis by healthcare professionals and information and flyers posted on notice boards. There is a general problem of negotiating this heterogeneous information space – deciding the appropriate source to consult, and then negotiating the interface provided. Anticipated research questions included:
1. How to bring together heterogeneous sources of information and provide an appropriate user interface.
2. How to log information regarding calls and referrals in a way which does not breach security and confidentiality guidelines.
3. Maintaining resources so that they are accurate, up to date etc – including tracking when leaflets and the like ‘run out’.

2: Toxbase

TOXBASE is the primary UK database for information on the acute management of patients with suspected poisoning, either due to accident or self harm. The service is provided by the Scottish Poisons Information Bureau (SPIB) and used widely both by staff in A&E departments and by NHS Direct (NHS24 in Scotland). TOXBASE therefore has two distinct types of enquirer with different usage requirements. In hospitals, TOXBASE is primarily used for point of care delivery of patient management, whereas NHS Direct requirements relate to information for members of the public, usually about accidental poisoning, most often in children. Access to TOXBASE is via its web site and hits currently exceed 30,000 per month. Anticipated research questions included:
1. Can the information in TOXBASE be presented in a more effective manner so that key information is not overlooked by end users?
2 .Do standard statements used in TOXBASE convey the appropriate clinical action categories intended by the authors?
3. Are the needs of the various types of users adequately met?
4. How are issues of authentication, robustness and unintended use addressed?

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