About Bupa's health information

Welcome to Bupa's health information area. Here you will find more than 600 pages of free and trusted health information on conditions, tests, 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 many topics include high-quality colour illustrations or photographs.

• Introduction
• Aim
• How we produce our information
• Who we are
• Contact us

Introduction

Bupa is recognised for the quality of its health information and as a result we have obtained a number of industry awards.

HONcode

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.

The Information Standard certification scheme

We have been certified as a quality provider of health and social care information by The Information Standard. This means we have demonstrated that the necessary processes and systems are in place to ensure our information meets the rigorous quality criteria of The Information Standard. We are therefore able to display the Information Standard quality mark on our content.

The certification doesn't cover the following user-generated information: weblogs, forums and personal experience pages – except where personal experience pages have been produced through a systematic process of validation.

Bupa shall hold responsibility for the accuracy of the information we publish and neither the scheme operator nor the scheme owner shall have any responsibility whatsoever for costs, losses or direct or indirect damages or costs arising from inaccuracy of information or omissions in information published on the website on behalf of Bupa.  

Plain English Campaign

Our website is approved by the Plain English Campaign. In 2010, we won the award for best website. The award is given to a website considered to be the clearest of the year.

British Medical Association (BMA) patient information awards

We received a number of awards for different titles, in several consecutive years.

In 2010 we received two 'highly commended' awards for cone biopsy and leg angioplasty factsheets. Sixteen other factsheets were 'commended'.

Aim

To ensure our health information is:

• relevant – we incorporate feedback into reviews and involve users in developing new information
• 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. Some examples of sources we use include the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the Cochrane Library and British Medical Journal (BMJ).

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 by an external medical approver.

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 a submit a frequently asked question (FAQ) function.

All our information is dated, and our content is reviewed at least once every three years. The health information team also carries out ad-hoc reviews in response to comments received from patients, user groups and clinicians.

Who we are

The Health Information Team is made up of the following people.

• Dr Sarah Salvilla MBBS MSc (Ed), Head of Health Information Team
  
• Jonathan Finney, Development Manager
• Rebecca Canvin, Executive Editor
• Stephanie Hughes, Executive Editor
• Pippa Coulter, Senior Health Editor
  
• Kerry McKeagney, Senior Health Editor (maternity leave)
• Krysta Munford, Health Editor
• Louise Abbott, Health Editor
• Alice Rossiter, Health Editor
• Dylan Merkett, Health Editor
• Natalie Heaton, Health Editor
• Kara Smith, Editorial Assistant

• Neil O'Rourke, Web Editor

For more information about our health editors, click here.

Contact us

If you have any feedback on our health information we would love to hear from you. Please contact us via email. Or, write to us:

Health Information Team (4th Floor)
Bupa House
15-19 Bloomsbury Way
London
WC1A 2BA