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How the Patient.co.uk content is organised
The Patient.co.uk brand is actually composed of six interconnected sub-sites, each of which carries advertising. The six sites will be referred to as follows:
- PUK Main - The main Patient.co.uk information site
- PUK Experience - Patient Experience forums which allow users to interact with and support one another as well as leaving records of their experiences of illness and treatment. The moderated PUK (Experience) forums probably comprise the largest and most comprehensive repository of patient experience in the UK. The recorded experiences are organised by clinical subject and drug product and are cross-related to other PUK content.
- PUK Newspaper - This is an editor selected round up of news from various UK and international feeds all cross-indexed to the site reference materials.
Patient.co.uk also connects to EMIS Access which allows patients to book GP appointments and order repeat prescriptions on-line. This site currently carries no advertising.
Breakdown of Patient.co.uk Main Site Content
The content of PUK Main comprises materials created and reviewed by the site clinical authoring team and links to third party content elsewhere on the web. Each type of content is organised into browsable chapters and pages and linked into the site search. There is extensive cross-linking between relevant content pages (see bottom of each page).
Disease Information Articles for Patients (including diagrams)
(There are currently 916 disease and lifestyle information articles for patients)
These are designed to be easy to read and understand, yet contain all the key up to date facts about disease presentation, investigation, treatment choice, self help and outcomes. They print out as one to four page A4 documents (optimised web page and PDF printing are available) . Some have audio files and a number have been translated into other languages. Simple diagrams are included to illustrate processes, anatomy, impact of illness and self help.
Lifestyle Information
These are similar to the disease information articles, but discuss health, risks and prevention.
Support and Self Help Group Details
(There are currently 1832 group details)
These give description of group purpose and contact details. They are updated on a rolling cycle through reference to the groups themselves.
Drug Information Articles
(There are currently 752 drug information articles)
These give key points about the uses, cautions and side effects of (mainly) prescription drugs. They written and updated by pharmacists and reviewed by GP authors.
Disease Information Articles for Expert Patients and Professionals
This section is branded PatientPlus. (There are currently 2087 PatientPlus articles)
These peer-reviewed evidence based articles are written and regularly updated by clinicians for use by front line clinical staff but are suitable for use (and extensively used by) by patients who wish to find out in-depth information about conditions and treatment options.
Directory of Links to Sites for Further Information and Details of NHS Services etc
These are regularly updated pages of links to useful information, contacts and NHS services broken down by subject.
Links to Health Videos by Subject
(There are currently 476 links to health videos)
These are pages of authored links to health videos broken down by alphabetical subject. The videos are cross-linked to related site content.
Links to Guidelines by Subject
(There are currently 1773 links to guidelines and similar resources)
These are pages of authored links to authoritative guidelines for detailed background reference grouped by alphabetical subject. The guidelines are cross-linked to related site content.