How we produce our information

The PIF TICK

You know that you can trust our information because Independent Age is a certified member of the PIF TICK – a quality mark scheme for organisations that produce health information. We have the right to display the PIF TICK logo on our range of guides and factsheets. Wherever you see this logo, you can be sure that the information you are reading is clear, accurate and trustworthy.

To meet the requirements of the PIF TICK scheme, our guides and factsheets have been through a strict quality control process. 

Our information production process

You can be sure that the information you are reading is of a high standard because we:

• use reliable evidence sources to create the information
• write in plain English, and explain any complicated medical or social care terms
• check the accuracy of the information with experts in that subject area
• involve older people in testing the information
• ensure that the final product is checked several times before it is published
• always plan a date for the information to be reviewed, so it stays up to date. 

We also make sure that the final product is available in large print and on audio cd for those who need it, and other formats on request.  

Involving older people

We test every new guide or factsheet that we produce with older people, to make sure that it's as useful as possible to you. Usually, we ask members of our Readers’ Panel to answer some questions about the information we have put together. 

We ask panel members about the format of the information and how easy they find it to understand. We also want to know whether they think there is any information missing that would be of interest to them, and if they have any suggestions for other improvements we could make.

When we want to get more detailed feedback on our information, we also arrange focus groups or in-depth interviews with small groups of people who have experience in the subject area we are covering. 

In all of our publications, we also encourage readers to share any feedback that they have, so that we can further improve our information when it is next reviewed. 

If you would like to help us to produce our information, you can join our Readers’ Panel by completing the online form.