Media release: Scots asked to use NHS websites over AI answers for medicines information
People in Scotland are being encouraged to use trusted NHS websites and official sources for information on medication, rather than relying on answers generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which may be inaccurate or misleading.
The message follows the publication of Citizens’ Panel 15, which gathered views from more than 560 people across Scotland on medicine safety, long-term conditions, and preconception care.
NHSScotland and the Scottish Government are working to improve safety and reduce medicines-related harm.
A total of 88% of respondents who took part in Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s latest Citizen’s Panel report say if they were to look online for more details about medicine, they would feel confident that information is reliable and up to date if it has NHS branding, such as the NHS logo.
But 61% of respondents said they would turn to search engines for answers.
563 people from across the country gave responses into medicines safety, long term conditions and preconception health and care, published in Citizen’s Panel 15.
“Our report found that people want to know how to get reliable information about their medicines. The growth of AI means this isn’t always obvious. It is so important that trusted and evidence-based medicines information is clearly available for the public, and one way to achieve this is by looking for NHS-branded websites.
“This is particularly important since certain search engines use AI to provide a summary of search results, without clarity in terms of what sources are included and their reliability.
“This can pose potential risk to people using online search engines to find information about medicines. This is also important to consider with the increasing rise of the use of AI, with individuals potentially using AI tools to find medicines information.”
HIS Director of Engagement and Change
Nearly all who took part in the Citizen’s Panel agreed that it is important to them to understand the purpose, benefits and risks of the medications they take (99%), and 93% agreed that they are willing to be involved in discussions about the medication they take, including about risks and potential harms.
Panel members were also asked where they might look for information about a medicine other than asking a healthcare professional. The majority (85%) would look at an information leaflet about the medicine included in the medication packaging, and most would find information online, for example an NHS Scotland website (71%) or online search engine 61%). A smaller number of respondents said they would ask family and friends for this information (13%) or someone who has taken this medication (11%).
Clare added:
“This suggests there could be scope to build on the use of NHS branding further in this area. These findings take on further importance in the context discussed above, where information found online may be of questionable reliability, highlighting a potential role for the NHS and healthcare professionals to play in signposting the public to reliable online information sources and supporting them in assessing the reliability of information.”
HIS Director of Engagement and Change
The Citizen’s Panel report made a number of recommendations for the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to consider. These include:
- The development of resources that support the public to understand the information, resources and processes that help people to take medicines safely and effectively
- Ensure information around medicines is available to the public in a range of formats, both physical leaflets and online
- Explore in-depth how the public use AI tools to find and understand healthcare information, and particularly information relating to medicines, aiming to help understand how to address potential risks of misinformation
The full report is now available to read online.
Notes to editor
The Citizens’ Panel for health and social care is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s work to involve people in the development and delivery of care services.
HIS Community Engagement and Transformational Change’s work involves undertaking ongoing engagement with people and communities from across all 32 local authority areas to ensure that services meet their needs, identify sustainable service improvements and to develop trust.
Their findings are later compiled into reports, which are published on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland Community Engagement website at www.hisengage.scot.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s statutory role is to help improve the quality of health and care, provide information to the public about the quality of health and care services, monitor public involvement, and to evaluate and provide advice on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of medicines and health technologies.
