About Bupa's health information
Welcome to Bupa's health information area. Here you will find more than 1000 pages of free and trusted health information for consumers on conditions, treatments and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. All our information is written by professional health writers and is reviewed by medical experts.
We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
Bupa's website includes hundreds of pages of free and trusted health information for consumers.
Within the health information area you will find overviews on more than 500 health topics covering conditions, treatments and lifestyle issues. Many of the overviews include high quality colour illustrations. There are also practical answers to common health questions and you can watch one or more of our 100 short animations or health videos.
- Aim
- Industry awards
- Department of Health Information Accreditation Scheme
- How we produce our information
- Sources of evidence
- Who we are
Aim
All 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".
Industry awards
Bupa is recognised for the quality of its health information and we have won a number of awards. Here is a selection.
HONcode
We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information and were awarded accreditation in 2008: verify here.
British Medical Association (BMA) awards
We received awards for the following titles:
- BMA Patient information award 2009 - highly commended for: Healthy eating booklet; Breast uplift surgery (mastopexy) factsheet; Electrocardiogram factsheet; Healthy eating booklet. Twenty-nine other factsheet titles were commended
- BMA Patient information award 2008 - 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
- BMA Patient information award 2007- commended for: Having a general anaesthetic
- BMA Patient information award 2006 - highly commended for: Surgery for herniated lumbar disc
- BMA Patient information award 2005 - highly commended for: Weight loss surgery
- BMA Patient information award 2005 - commended for: Healthier living
- BMA Patient information award 2004 - highly commended for: Lower back surgery
The Times - top 10 list of best health websites in 2006
Norwich Union medical journalism awarded in 2004 for health news story:
Should sunbeds be banned?
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Department of Health Information Accreditation Scheme
Bupa has been selected by the Department of Health (DH) to participate in the testing phase of a new scheme to "kite mark" high quality information across the UK health and social care sector.
The Information Accreditation Scheme will help the public and professionals to know that the information they are reading is trustworthy.
The network of test organisations covers the commercial, public and voluntary sectors. Bupa is one of 40 companies to join the scheme and only one of five from the commercial sector. These include the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Group, Patient UK and The Royal College of Psychiatrists.
For more information read:
- Bupa joins new Government initiative to improve patient information - Bupa press release
- An information accreditation scheme - Department of Health information
How we produce our information
Bupa publishes a wide range of resources for consumers and Bupa customers, including factsheets, articles and digital content.
Our editorial process is rigorous and allows us to deliver on the three Rs.
- All our information is evidence-based using quality secondary sources, such as systematic reviews and national guidelines (as below).
- We 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.
- 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.
- 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, for example:
- Royal College of General Practitioners: www.rcgp.org.uk
- Royal College of Surgeons of England: www.rcseng.ac.uk
- Royal College of Psychiatrists: www.rcpsych.ac.uk
Reviews of evidence
- Clinical Evidence: www.clinicalevidence.com
- Cochrane Library: www.thecochranelibrary.com
- NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries: http://cks.library.nhs.uk
- Bandolier: www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
Some of these sources are by paid subscription only.
Government bodies
- Department of Health: www.dh.gov.uk
- Food Standards Agency: www.food.gov.uk
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: www.mhra.gov.uk
- UK Statistics Authority: www.statistics.gov.uk
Expert consumer health information sources
- British Nutrition Foundation: www.nutrition.org.uk
- British Heart Foundation: www.bhf.org.uk
- Cancer Research UK: www.cancerresearchuk.org
- Macmillan Cancer Support: www.cancerbackup.org.uk
- Diabetes UK: www.diabetes.org.uk
- Arthritis Research Campaign: www.arc.org.uk
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:
- BMJ - the British Medical Journal: www.bmj.com
- JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association: www.jama.ama-assn.org
- NEJM - the New England Journal of Medicine: www.nejm.org
- The Lancet: www.thelancet.com
Who we are
The health information team
- Dr Annabel Bentley, MBBS FRCS, head of health information team
- Jonathan Finney, development manager
- Jeremy Theobald, managing health editor
- Polly Kerr, deputy managing health editor
- Pippa Coulter, senior health editor
- Kerry Mckeagney, senior health editor
- Becky Canvin, health editor
- Nargis Mandry, health editor
- Claire Owen, health editor
- Ruth Paget, health editor
- Louise Maclachlan, health editor
- Charlie Stebbings, editorial assistant
- Mamta Kochhar, secretary
Medical reviewers
As well as Dr Annabel Bentley, a panel of Bupa doctors review our information. These include:
- Dr Clive Bowman, FRCP, medical director, Bupa Care Services
- Dr Peter Mace, MB ChB MRCP DOcc Med, medical director Bupa Wellness
- Dr Rebecca Small, MB ChB MRNZCGP, assistant clinical director Bupa Insurance
- Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, MBA FRCS Ed, medical director Bupa Group
- Dr Virginia Warren, MA MD FFPH, assistant medical director
- Dr James Quekett, Bsc, MB ChB MRCGP DRCOG DFFP, medical approver for Bupa
We also have a panel of external specialist medical reviewers.
