2025: a round-up of PIF activity

Look back at our guidance, webinars and Ask the Membership summaries, as well as the big events of the past year. All our activity supports our refreshed 5-year strategy launched in the spring - you can read the strategy on our website.

What happened in 2025

Raising the profile of the PIF TICK 

In October, the PIF TICK website was relaunched to help people find trusted health information and avoid dangerous misinformation. The revamped piftick.org.uk signposts users to more than 150 certified Trusted Information Creators, including national health charities. 

The upgrade was part-funded by NHS England and was informed by a series of co-production workshops. The PIF TICK website is part of NHS England's health literacy toolkit for public libraries.  New resources and campaigns are coming in January 2026. You can read more about the changes here.

The PIF TICK directory, a quick and easy way to find certified PIF TICK creators, sorted by health topic, is updated every six months. The latest version was released in August and you can view it here. 

Since September we have expanded the assessment and support team to support the growth of PIF TICK in 2026. One of the first initiatives to go live was the launch of our public social media channels in December.

Knowledge Empowers

In January we published a survey of health information users which found credible information empowers patients. We partnered with the University of Nottingham on the analysis of free text comments.  This found information and support provided by patient organisations helps people feel less alone - view the two-page summary here.

The impact of misinformation 

In May, we launched a video ethnography on the impact of misinformation produced on behalf of PIF by Ipsos UK. You can watch the video on YouTube.

Google AI search results and the health sector

Marie Curie, Macmillan and PIF collaborated on a report earlier this year assessing the impact of Google AI search summaries on the health sector. 70 organisations from across the health sector attended a virtual roundtable in March, including NHS organisations and a host of national charities who share these concerns. The report was presented to Google's heads of health at a meeting in the summer and we have continued to consult on our concerns.

Read the full report here. You can also view a recording of a roundtable on AI summaries hosted by PIF and Marie Curie.

Working to make changes

The ABPI and PIF published a new handbook in May to support pharmaceutical companies and patient organisations to work together in a way which is compliant with the ABPI Code of Practice and in the interests of patients.The handbook is supported by a series of partnership case studies developed by PIF and ABPI. Read Working together: a handbook for industry and patient organisation partnerships 2025.

In June, the Patient Information Forum, Self-Care Forum and the Personalised Care Institute published a joint statement calling for credible, personalised health information and advice to be embedded in the healthcare journey. Read the Joint statement: Making the 3 NHS shifts a reality. Since the NHS plan was published we have continued to lobby for trusted health information to be embedded in  treatment journeys and for the digital shift to underpinned by co-production and support for inclusion.

Revisit PIF’s guidance

Here is the guidance we published in 2025 to help inform our members’ work and share best practice:

Easy Read matters: Easy Read makes information easier to understand. Our updated one-page poster covers why it is important and offers tips on creating Easy Read resources. Download Easy Read matters here.

Reading age position statement: PIF guidance is to aim for a reading age of 9-11 in health information. This statement sets out our position and highlights useful tools. View the PIF guidance on a reading age for health information, including supporting data and useful tools and resources.

Involving users in developing health information: The 2025 update to our involving users guide includes top tips on stepping up user involvement, advice on planning and running engagement sessions and case studies sharing good practice. Download guidance on Co-production: Involving users in developing health information.

Optimising your website for AI search: This guide provides practical advice to help you optimise your website for AI search. Download the guide to optimising your website for AI search.

Evaluating the impact of health information: This guide provides practical support for evaluating the impact of health information. Find best practice, evaluation models, and the tools you can use to collect and analyse your data in the guide here.

Catch up on our webinars

Missed one of our webinars? Here are the links to the hot topic and guidance sessions we held during 2025:

• Tackling health misinformation and understanding health literacy - To mark Health Information Week in January 2025, PIF hosted a webinar exploring how to tackle health misinformation and increase our understanding of health literacy in the UK. See the recording here.
• Accessible numbers and risk communication - Get top tips to make sure your use of numbers and risk communication is accessible to all.
• PIF TICK version 3 and supporting change - Watch a special PIF TICK webinar where quality manager Dan Wills shares top tips to support change management in organisations of all sizes.
• PIF TICK at 5 – Shaping trusted health information - Catch up on our webinar exploring changes in the health information landscape and the impact of the PIF TICK.
• Health Inequalities Week - Watch the event exploring health inequalities in the UK – and how health information can help tackle them.
• Ipsos webinar: The rise of the patient - Helen Bennis from Ipsos explores the rise of the patient decision maker – and whether the healthcare system is ready.
• Measuring the impact of health information - View our webinar exploring how to successfully measure and demonstrate the impact of your health information.
• Making the most of AI - Our webinar explores how health information providers can overcome the challenges of a new search environment.
• Multimedia health information - View our webinar exploring best practice in multimedia health information.
• Using health information to support self care and self management - View our webinar exploring how health information can support effective self care and self management.

Ask the Membership

Ask the Membership is a way to tap into the wealth of expertise and experience held by the PIF membership and receive helpful answers. Here are some of the topics covered in the past 12 months:

• Recommendations for creative agencies; adding references on webpages; recommended suppliers to translate resources; freelance health information writers recommendations; improving the diversity of volunteers; defining terms “surgery”, “operation” and “procedure”. Read the answers in the January list.
• Advice on how to access online databases; freelance graphic designer recommendations; automated language translation options; involving healthcare professionals; ensuring clinical accuracy of mental health content; phrasing requests not to be rude, aggressive or violent. Find out how members responded in our March and April ATMs.
• Icons in place of standard bullet points for lists; refreshing feedback surveys; how AI could help; using terms like "risk factors within our control"; policies on linking to other organisations online; working with translators. Read in our April and May round-up for the replies.
• Awards for patient information; evidence supporting the need for colour printing; travel insurance with a pre-existing medical condition; trauma-informed practice training or providers; recommendations for image banks. Find the answers in our June and July ATMs.
• Realistic images; using Copilot in readability tests; permission to distribute; creating audio versions of resources; trustworthiness of health information pages. Visit our round-up for August and September to read our members’ responses.
• Project management template; integrating video content into PIF TICK review. Read all about these topics in our October and November list.