About Us

Who owns and runs Patient UK?

Patient UK was first launched in 1997 by PiP (Patient Information Publications). It started as a directory of UK websites which provided information of health, disease and related issues.

In December 2002, Patient UK was re-launched as a joint venture between PiP and EMIS (Egton Medical Information Systems). For the re-launch Patient UK has been extensively revised and considerably more content has been added. Our aim is to be a reliable and comprehensive source of health and disease information, mainly aimed at the UK general public, but of interest to all.

PiP is a partnership between Dr Tim Kenny and Dr Beverley Kenny. They have been GPs in Tyne and Wear, England, for over 10 years and have a particular interest in writing and providing evidence based patient information. They are editors and lead authors for the content on Patient UK.

EMIS develops, supplies and supports General Practice computing systems. The company was started by family doctors and has been growing steadily for the last 20 years. It is currently the market leader, having systems installed in over 50% of practices in the UK.

EMIS has a special interest and experience in making electronic systems that allow doctors and patients to quickly find appropriate medical information. The information leaflets on this website are included in the EMIS clinical system and doctors and nurses print off these leaflets during consultations to give to patients and carers.

In April 2008, EMIS acquired the balance of Patient UK from PiP but the partners of PiP remain involved as consultant editors and lead authors.

The aim of this website is to provide non-medical people in the UK with good quality information about health and disease. The authors do this by writing evidence based information leaflets on a wide range of medical and health topics. They also review health and illness related websites and link to many of these from the web directory included on this website. UK sites are the primary links in the web directory as they feel that residents in the UK prefer to obtain health information from UK sources. They also suggest some links to selected overseas sites.

Health professionals and people from outside the UK may also find Patient UK a useful resource. The PatientPlus section is likely to be of particular interest to health professionals.

Related Websites

Patient UK has a number of related, ‘sister’ websites, as described below:

Patient UK Experience

This is an interactive forum which enables users to read and contribute to online discussion on experience of medical conditions and treatments. The site contains links to and from related information in Patient UK.

Patient UK Newspaper

This is an online newspaper displaying selected daily stories relating to medical subjects from the world’s media. The site contains links to and from related information in Patient UK.

Patient UK Pharmacy

This is a pharmacy product price comparison website, based on product information provided by a number of reputable pharmacies registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The site contains links to and from related information in Patient UK.

Authoring, Advertising and Funding

Independent editorial control of Patient UK and site construction are wholly funded by EMIS. Patient UK makes no user charge and receives no funding from external sources, for example drug companies. Patient UK is not a NHS organisation.

The authors and editors of articles on Patient UK are employed to create accurate and up to date content reflecting reliable research evidence, guidance and best clinical practice. They are free from any commerical conflicts of interest.

Patient UK articles with clinical content are reviewed every two or three years as a matter of course. In general, Patient Information Leaflets are reviewed and re-issued every two years and Drug Information Leaflets every three years.

However, the default re-issue period of any article may be overridden:

because the scientific evidence referred to in an article is updated leading to a significant change in the understanding of a condition or the way in which a disease is managed. In this case, a Patient UK article on the subject is likely to be updated and re-issued more quickly than expected
because there has been no change in the way in which the condition is understood or managed. In this case, an article on the subject may not be re-issued until a guideline on the subject changes or a period of 5 years passes.

Advertising banners and skyscrapers on the site provide income revenue by means of page display or 'click thru'. Adverts are provided by external sources and are not endorsed by Patient UK. All revenue from this source is passed to EMIS.

Credits

Main Authors

Dr Tim Kenny (also joint News Editor), BMedSci (Hons), MB, BS, MRCGP, DCH
Dr Beverley Kenny (Medical Diagrams), MB, BS, MRCGP

Web Implementation

Dr Gordon Brooks, MB ChB, PhD (Medical Informatics), Experienced clincial decision support system designer
Site Director and joint News Editor

Authoring and Reviewing Team

Dr Huw Thomas, MB BCh, DRCOG, MRCGP, Established GP trainer
Lead Clinical Editor for PatientPlus

Dr Chloe Borton, BA (Oxon), MBBS, MRCGP
Dr Richard Draper, MB ChB, DCH, DRCOG, MRCGP, DA/FFA(Pt 1)
Dr Naomi Hartree, BMedSci, MB, BS, MRCGP, DGM
Dr Laurence Knott, BSc, MB, BS
Dr Louise Newson, BSc, MB ChB, MRCP, MRCGP
Dr Michelle Preston, MB ChB, MRCGP, DCH, DRCOG
Dr Gurvinder Rull, MB, BS, MRCP(Lond)
Dr Olivia Scott, BSc, MB BCh, MRCOphth(1)
Dr Colin Tidy, MBBS, MRCP, MRCGP, DCH
Dr Hayley Willacy, MB ChB, DRCOG, DFFP, MRCOG
Dr Adrian M Bonsall, BA (Hons), MBBS (London) (Hons), MRCPCh (I), FACEM (Primary)
Dr John P Cox, MB BChir (Cantab), DCH, DRCOG, FP Cert, MRCP(UK), MRCGP
Dr Helen Huins, MB BS Lond, DCH, DRCOG, MRCGP, JCPTGP, DFFP
Dr Cathy Jackson, BSc (Hons), MB ChB, MRCGP
Dr Paul J Scott, MRCGP
Dr Hannah Gronow, MB ChB

Pharmacy Informatics Team at EMIS:

Helen Allen, BPharm, MRPharmS, Clin Dip
Helen Mullins, BPharm, MRPharmS
Jeremy Power, BPharm(Hons), MRPharmS

Creative Content

Authors from www.morewriting.co.uk

Electronic Publishing

Hilary Cole - Content Management
Ros Jones - Proofreader
Alan Osborne - Testing
Lin Anderson - Joint Lead Moderator Patient UK Experience Forums
Tina Bartlett - Joint Lead Moderator Patient UK Experience Forums

Web Developers

Sue Grealish
Neal Ralphs

Company Registration details

Egton Medical Information Systems Limited. Registered in England. No 2117205.
Registered office: Fulford Grange, Micklefield Lane, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6BA.

Last revised 11th November 2009