Where do I go for clinical or disease information?
Best Treatments
Information is researched from the British Medical Journal and displayed in an easy to understand format.
Patient UK
This is the best general health website by far. Doctors use it frequently!
Net Doctor
Attempts to break the language barrier between Doctors and patients regarding disease and illnesses.
Health Watch
This site is run by a charity which critically examines the claims of various interest groups such as Drug Companies, Health Screening organisations, alternative medicine groups.
NHS Sites
NHS Constitution
The NHS Constitution was published on 21 January 2009. It was one of a number of recommendations in Lord Darzi’s report ‘High Quality Care for All’ which was published on the 60th anniversary of the NHS and set out a ten-year plan to provide the highest quality of care and service for patients in England. Lord Darzi is a very specialised surgeon from London who has no experience at all of General Practice, - so they got him to do a big reorganisation of the NHS. He is no fool and he resigned just before the changes actually happened!
NHS Choices
This site does now allow you to look at how various GP practices are scored. We do very well but we still think these scores need to be taken with a large pinch of salt! You can also see what comments are posted by patients about various practices which is probably more useful.
Charity Websites
Unfortunately many so called charities are heavily funded and heavily influenced by drug companies, so they tend to be rather biased.
Cancerhelp
Free information service provided by Cancer Research UK about cancer and cancer care for people with cancer and their families. Information is formatted in such a way that makes understanding the website an easy process
Cancer Backup
Europe's leading cancer information charity, with over 4,500 pages of up-to-date cancer information, practical advice and support for cancer patients, their families and carers.
Diabetes UK
largest charity in the UK devoted to the care and treatment of people with diabetes in order to improve the quality of life for people with the condition
Asthma UK
This website has been revamped to meet the needs of the thousands of people with asthma who visit the site each day, either to find important information about asthma and how to control it
Tips on evaluating the reliability of online medical information
Use sites from reputable organisations you have heard of.
Double check the information by looking for other sources.
Check there are contact details for any organisation or people responsible for the information not just an email address.
Look at the advertising - does it seem to unduly influence the site content?
All articles should quote references that you can look up.
Watch out for claims about the superiority of any particular treatment over another
Is this information supplied with a date to make sure it has not been superseded by other research.
Check the sites confidentiality policy.
Beware of sites claiming to be the definitive source.
Beware of sites that criticise others.