Patient Advocacy / Advice

See the patient support section for details of 2000+ groups and organisations that represent patients. The following are links to the major patient 'umbrella' organisations, and those which deal with general patient advice, advocacy, complaint procedures, discussion about services, etc.

 Patients Association

Listening to patients and speaking up for change.

 PALS Online

PALS Online is the website of the national network of NHS Patient Advice and Liaison Services.It provides information about the Patient Advice and Liaison Servicesthroughout England and how they can be contacted; enables users toaccess a growing directory of links to other health and support agencywebsites; provides a library of resources for PALS workers to share with eachother and the public and publishes news about PALS service development.

 Complaint Procedures in the NHS

There are formal complaints procedures that will be followed if you are unhappy with the service you have been provided by either the National Health Service or the Local Authority Social Services. Information about these procedures, or details about how to get more information, are set out in this website from the Department of Health

 Health Service Ombudsman

Do you have a complaint about the service you have received from the NHS? The Health Service Ombudsman can help you.

 National PatientSafety Agency

Aims to improve the safety and quality of care through reporting, analysing and learning from adverse incidents and 'near misses' involving NHS patients. The NPSA is an independent body created in July 2001.

 Patient and Public Involvement Specialist Library

This Library aims to support the implementation of patient, user, carer and public involvement in health care by providing access, in one location, to the best information which is available on the Web.

 National Association for Patient Participation

NAPP is a registered charity which promotes the formation of Patient Participation groups at surgery and PCG level.

 Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums are here to make sure the public is involved in decision making about health and health services in England.There are 572 PPI Forums, one for each NHS Trust in England. They are working with all sectors of the community and finding out what people really think about health in their local areas.

 Action for Victims of Medical Accidents

AVMA is a charity supporting people injured by medical accidents. If you think you may have suffered injury or harm as a result of inappropriate medical care, poor treatment, or misdiagnosis/failure to diagnose, then contact AVMA for free practical help and advice.

 Child Poverty Action Group

CPAG has been fighting poverty in the UK for more than 30 years. It will continue to lobby Government and campaign for policies to improve the lives of people living in poverty for as long as is necessary. This website provides information to help people campaign against poverty, and to explain the work that CPAG does.

 Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance

An alliance of 60 voluntary organisations works to ensure the voices of people with long term medical conditions are heard.

 National Youth Advocacy Service

A Registered Charity and Community Legal Service Help Point providing independent and confidential socio-legal services of information, consultation, advocacy, legal advice and representation to children and young people aged 0-25 resident in England and Wales.

 Patient Concern

An organisation committed to promoting choice and empowerment for all health service users.

 Citizens Advice Bureaux

Provides advice on many subjects.

 Citizens Advice Scotland

The Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

 General Medical Council

Every working doctor needs to be registered on the GMC list. (This is the list a doctor can be 'struck off'). The GMC has strong and effective legal powers designed to maintain the standards the public have a right to expect of doctors.

 General Dental Council

The regulatory body of the dental profession. It protects the public by means of its statutory responsibilities for dental education, registration, professional conduct and health. It supports dentists and dental auxiliaries in the practice of dentistry and encourages their continuing professional development. You can search for registered dentists from this site.

 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(MHRA)

The primary task of the MHRA is to help safeguard public health by working with users, manufacturers and legislators to ensure that medical devices meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and performance.

 Health and Safety Executive

The HSE's business is to ensure that risks to people's health and safety from work activities are properly controlled.

Further sources / more detailed information

Some non-UK sites

The following list popular non-UK health information sites with content aimed at the general public. They are mainly from the US. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included but these large sites are comprehensive.

• Non-UK disease / illness sites
• Non-UK self-help / support group sites

More detailed medical information

The following list online sources of more detailed medical information, mainly from the UK. These sites are mainly aimed at health professionals, but are of interest to all. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included, but information about most medical topics can usually be found.

• PatientPlus - hundreds of medical reference articles provided by Patient UK.
• Evidence Based Medicine - such as from Clinical Evidence, The Cochrane Library, etc.
• Database of UK Clinical Guidelines - from NICE, SIGN, Clinical Knowledge Summaries, etc.
• Medline - abstracts available from thousands of journals.
• Sites listing free online medical textbooks and journals.
• Sites listing free medical images - pictures, atlases, anatomy, skin diseases, etc.