About Bupa's health information
Welcome to Bupa's health information area. Here you will find more than 1000 pages of free and trusted health information for consumers on conditions, treatments and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. All our information is written by professional health writers and is reviewed by medical experts.
We have also produced 100 short animations and videos on a variety of health topics. Not only this but most of our factsheets include high quality colour illustrations.
Introduction
Bupa is recognised for the quality of its health information, as a result we have obtained number of industry awards.
- HONcode
- Department of Health Information Accreditation Scheme
- Bupa joins new Government initiative to improve patient information - Bupa press release
- An information accreditation scheme - Department of Health information
- British Medical Association (BMA)awards
- The Times - top 10 list of best health websites in 2006
We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.
We have been certified as a quality provider of health and social care information by The Information Standard - a new certification scheme for health and social care information. We have demonstrated that we have the necessary processes and systems in place to ensure our information meets the rigorous quality criteria of The Information Standard. Therefore we have been awarded The Information Standard quality mark, which we are able to display on our information materials as a mark of quality and reassurance.
For more information read:
We received a number of awards for different titles, in several consecutive years.
In 2009 we received 'highly commended' for: Healthy eating booklet; Breast uplift surgery (mastopexy) factsheet; Electrocardiogram factsheet. Twenty-nine other factsheet titles were 'commended'.
In 2008 we received 'commended' for: Breast enlargement factsheet; Facelift surgery factsheet; Inguinal hernia repair factsheet; Alcohol dependence factsheet; Myeloma factsheet; Caesarean delivery factsheet; Giving birth vaginally factsheet; OCD factsheet; COPD factsheet; Healthy living booklet; and Heart booklet.
In 2007 we received 'commended' for: Having a general anaesthetic.
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Aim
To ensure our health information is:
- relevant - we involve users in developing our information and listen to what they want
- reliable - we publish evidence-based, up-to-date information; everything is peer-reviewed and we show our sources of evidence
- readable - we use plain English, with all medical terms clearly defined
We call this the Bupa 'three Rs'.
How we produce our information
Our editorial process is rigorous, allowing us to deliver on the 'three Rs'.
All our information is evidence-based using quality sources, such as systematic reviews and national guidelines.
Our information is peer reviewed by experts in the field who advise us on any possible omissions or bias. Our information is also given final medical sign off internally at Bupa.
We also encourage consumer feedback to ensure our information meets the needs of the reader. We have a website survey running for each factsheet and carry out periodic independent market research.
All our information is dated, and our content is reviewed and updated every two years. The health information team also carries out ad-hoc reviews in response to comments received from patients, user groups and clinicians.
Sources of evidence
We use expert sources of medical information to research all our health information. Examples are listed below.
Guidance written for healthcare professionals
- National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): www.nice.org.uk
- Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN): www.sign.ac.uk
- Royal Colleges, for example:
- Royal College of General Practitioners: www.rcgp.org.uk
- Royal College of Surgeons of England: www.rcseng.ac.uk
- Royal College of Psychiatrists: www.rcpsych.ac.uk
Reviews of evidence
- Clinical Evidence: www.clinicalevidence.com
- Cochrane Library: www.thecochranelibrary.com
- NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries: http://cks.library.nhs.uk
- Bandolier: www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
Government bodies
- Department of Health: www.dh.gov.uk
- Food Standards Agency: www.food.gov.uk
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: www.mhra.gov.uk
- UK Statistics Authority: www.statistics.gov.uk
Expert consumer health information sources
- British Nutrition Foundation: www.nutrition.org.uk
- British Heart Foundation: www.bhf.org.uk
- Cancer Research UK: www.cancerresearchuk.org
- Macmillan Cancer Support: www.cancerbackup.org.uk
- Diabetes UK: www.diabetes.org.uk
- Arthritis Research Campaign: www.arc.org.uk
Core medical reference books
- British National Formulary: www.bnf.org.uk
- Oxford Handbook series published by Oxford University Press, such as the Oxford Handbook of General Practice, the Oxford Handbook of Sports and Exercise Medicine and the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine: www.oup.co.uk
- Clinical Medicine - Kumar & Clark
- Dorland's illustrated medical dictionary
Medical literature
Articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, for example:
- BMJ - the British Medical Journal: www.bmj.com
- JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association: www.jama.ama-assn.org
- NEJM - the New England Journal of Medicine: www.nejm.org
- The Lancet: www.thelancet.com
Who we are
The health information team
- Dr Annabel Bentley, MBBS FRCS, head of health information team
- Jonathan Finney, development manager
- Jeremy Theobald, managing health editor
- Polly Kerr, deputy managing health editor
- Pippa Coulter, senior health editor
- Krysta Munford, health editor
- Becky Canvin, health editor
- Nargis Mandry, assistant health editor
- Claire Owen, health editor
- Ruth Paget, health editor
- Louise Maclachlan, health editor
- Charlie Stebbings, editorial assistant
- Mamta Kochhar, secretary
Contact us
If you have any feedback on our health information we would love to hear from you, please contact us via email
