Skip to content

A practical review aid

Patient-information governance checklist

Ten questions a governance reviewer would ask of any patient-facing leaflet, page or pathway your service uses. Work through them one document at a time. The checklist is product-neutral: every question can be answered — well or badly — whatever tools you use today.

Test a leaflet’s readability first →

  1. 1. Named content owner

    Is one named clinician responsible for this document’s clinical content? Would they recognise the current version as theirs?

  2. 2. Source references

    Does the document state which guideline, evidence or local protocol its clinical statements come from? Could a reviewer trace any figure to its source?

  3. 3. Review date

    Does it carry a visible last-reviewed date and a next-review date? Is the next-review date in the future?

  4. 4. Version history

    Can you say what the document said on a given past date, and which version a given patient cohort received?

  5. 5. Reading age

    Has the reading level been measured (for example Flesch or SMOG)? Does it meet your service’s target for patient-facing material?

  6. 6. Easy-read or alternative-format provision

    Is there an easy-read version, or another format for patients who cannot use the standard one? How does a patient get it?

  7. 7. Accessibility

    If it is digital, does it meet WCAG 2.2 AA? If it is a PDF or print leaflet, can screen-reader users and low-vision users actually use it?

  8. 8. Clinician sign-off

    Is there a record of who approved the current version for patient use, and when? Is the approver identifiable, with name and registration number?

  9. 9. Update workflow

    When the source guideline changes, what triggers the update? Who is notified, and what is the target interval between the source changing and the material being updated?

  10. 10. Publication record

    Do you know everywhere this document is published — print stores, website, portals, third-party sites — and does an update reach all of them?

What this checklist is not

Completing this checklist does not establish compliance with the Accessible Information Standard, the Equality Act 2010, CQC expectations or any other duty. It is a structured way to find the gaps a governance review would find — the judgement about adequacy remains with your service’s own clinical and information-governance leads.

Related reading: the Accessible Information Standard in surgical patient information · how the Patient Compass Suite handles these questions · talk to us.