Scottish Health Information Integrity Strategy

Technical Foreword

In any setting imaginable everywhere on our planet – on buses, in schools, on the street, even on our more accessible mountaintops – the scale of the digital revolution is striking. Everywhere there are computers, smart phones, tablets, wearables, billions of devices connected to the internet, moving information around at our individual bidding at incredible speed and volume.

Information is everywhere. It has become freely available to almost everyone. People can find almost anything they want to know in seconds, transforming access to material that in the past would have been difficult to access.

However, we should remember that the digital revolution started relatively slowly, and only took off in a spectacular way with the advent of social media – for example Facebook was launched in 2004, and TikTok only in 2017. It’s fair to say that governments, indeed society as a whole, haven’t been able to keep up with the speed of this transformation.

Health, and scientific advances in healthcare, have always been subject to misinformation. This has been true throughout human history. The difference now is that bad information, sometimes skilfully designed to manipulate by causing fear or anger, can reach enormous numbers of people and become entrenched in public discourse before healthcare systems and the scientific community can even understand what’s happening.

The sheer speed of the digital revolution has left scientists and healthcare professionals trailing in its wake. People are seeking information about their own health in new ways, and often from platforms that are not designed to favour good and accurate information.

This strategy marks the beginning of the Scottish healthcare system’s active response to poor quality health information. It sets out, simply and accessibly, the nature of the health information environment we now live in, and describes the initial actions needed to help NHS Scotland and others build and maintain trust in responsible and accurate sources of information, and find the best means of bringing these sources to people.

Misinformation and disinformation are loaded terms that don’t cover the subtleties of health information. People often share bad information because they are concerned, afraid, or have had bad experiences. It is the responsibility of the health and scientific communities to recognise these motivations, and work compassionately to build – and sometimes rebuild – trust in science and institutions.

There are several ways of ensuring people can use good information to make sound decisions about their health. Digital literacy – equipping people with the ability to see falsehoods and understand when someone is trying to manipulate them – is one. Speaking to them with respect, in plain language and where they are is another. But nothing is more important than trust. This strategy – the first national health information integrity strategy anywhere in the world – is founded on trust. It marks a milestone in providing Scotland’s health and care system with the tools and the confidence to effectively engage with Scotland’s people in the information age.

Linda Bauld

Bruce and John Usher Chair of Public Health, University of Edinburgh and Chief Social Policy Adviser, Scottish Government