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About Bupa's health information

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Welcome to Bupa's health information area. Here you will find more than 600 pages of free and trusted health information for consumers 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.

Introduction

Bupa is recognised for the quality of its health information, 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 – 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:


Plain English Campaign
In 2010, the Bupa website won the Plain English Campaign 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'.

In 2009 we received 'highly commended' for our Healthy eating booklet, Breast uplift surgery (mastopexy) factsheet and 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 factsheet.


The Times top 10 health websites

The Bupa website was rated in the top 10 best health websites for 2006 by the Times newspaper.

  This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. Click to verify.  British Medical Association logo Medical Journalism Award logo    The Information Standard logo

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


Reviews of evidence


Government bodies


Expert consumer health information sources


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:

Who we are

The Health Information Team

  • Dr Sarah Salvilla MBBS MSc(Ed), Head of Health Information Team
  • Jonathan Finney, Development Manager
  • Pippa Coulter, Senior Health Editor
  • Kerry McKeagney, Senior Health Editor
  • Becky Canvin, Health Editor
  • Krysta Munford, Health Editor
  • Stephanie Hughes, Health Editor
  • Louise Abbott, Health Editor
  • Alice Rossiter, Health Editor
  • Dylan Merkett, Health Editor
  • Natalie Heaton, 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.