The Internet as a source of information on health

Any one who has used the Internet will realise that there is a vast amount of information available on health. However, web sites containing information on health and medical topics can vary greatly in quality. To help you access high quality medical information on the Internet, we have placed some links on this page to reputable web sites. You will also find links to some other organisations that offer health advice. For information on some common clinical topics, take a look at our clinical information page. For information on our management and corporate policies, take a look at our corporate page. 

For further information on using the Internet to find medical information, take a look at Dr Majeed's Guide to Medical Information on the Internet.

Government Sites

MEDLINEplus

MEDLINEplus is our recommended site for information on health and medical topics. MEDLINEplus is published by the US Government's National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library. MEDLINEplus is probably the World's best information site on health and medical topics for members of the public. MEDLINEplus provides access to extensive information about specific diseases and conditions and also has links to consumer health information from the National Institutes of Health. The site is also free of advertising. The National Library of Medicine also produces MEDLINE, a database of articles published in medical and scientific journals. Preformulated MEDLINE searches are included in MEDLINEplus and give easy access to the medical research literature.

NHS Direct

The NHS Direct service is a 24 hour telephone helpline staffed by nurses, which gives advice and information about health and the NHS so that people can take better care of themselves and their families. NHS Direct can also advise people on their best course of action - whether to stay at home and what to do at home, whether to contact a GP or whether to go to A&E. NHS Direct now also has an web site for patients which contains guidance on how to deal with common medical problems.

The Department of Health

The Department of Health has its own web site. The site contains a large amount of information, particularly on the management of the NHS in England. This is a particularly good site if you want to learn more about government initiatives on health and on government plans for the NHS.

The National Electronic Library for Health

The National Electronic Library for Health or NeLH for short, is the official information site of the NHS in England. The site is designed to meet the needs of both medical professionals and patients. The site is still under construction and its content is expanding steadily. 

National Electronic Library for Health - Primary Care

The National Electronic Library for Health - Primary Care is designed for people working in primary care. You may find the content more accessible than its related library.

Canadian Health Network

The Canadian Health Network is a new and growing network, bringing together the resources of leading Canadian health organisations and international health information providers. The resources identified here are aimed at helping you take care of yourself and the people you care about - with tips on how to improve your health and well-being. The site tries to play particular attention to disease prevention and health promotion.

HealthInsite

The HealthInsite site is the Australian Federal Government's consumer health information site. Like the Canadian Health Network, there is a strong emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion.

US Department of Health & Human Services

The website of the US Department of Health & Human Services. This offers a large set of links to health-related issues and to other US government organisations.

National Library of Medicine Medline

Medline is the world's main database of medical research articles. PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to over 12 million Medline citations back to the mid-1960's and additional life science journals free of charge. 

Medical Journals

British Medical Journal

The BMJ.COM site, the Internet version of the British Medical Journal, is one of the best medical web sites in the world. Although it is aimed primarily at doctors, patients will also find much on the site that it is of value to them. The British Medical Journal is one of the world's best medical journals and publishes only a small percentage of the papers and articles it is sent by authors. All articles are peer-reviewed to ensure they meet the required standards. The BMJ.COM offers free access to the full text of all articles published in the journal since January 1994. This is unusual in medical publishing - most medical journals require you to be a subscriber before they offer full access to their Internet version.

American Family Physician

The American Family Physician is the journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians. This is high quality journal published for family doctors in America. It focuses mainly on writing educational articles for family doctors and does not publish very many research articles. Hence, you may find the articles published in the journal easier to understand than those published in more research orientated journals such as the British Medical Journal or the Lancet. The site also contains fact sheets written for patients which you may also find useful. The AAFP's Patient Information Web Site is also worth visiting.

Canadian Medical Association Journal

The Canadian Medical Association Journal offers free access to the full text of articles published in it. The journal is published in English and French.

Medical Journal of Australia

The Medical Journal of Australia is the official journal of the Australian Medical Association.

New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine is probably the most prestigious English language medical journal in the World. You may find some its articles very technical. Only articles over six months old can be viewed by non-subscribers. Access to more recent articles requires a password. 

The Lancet

The Lancet is another prestigious medical journal, but like the New England Journal of Medicine, non-subscribers have only limited access to articles. The Lancet once published a review of this website. 

Journal of the American Medical Association

The Journal of the American Medical Association is another major English language medical journal. Non-subscribers have only limited access to articles.

HighWire Library of Science and Medicine

As well as hosting the British Medical Journal, Stanford University's HighWire Press hosts the electronic versions of over 300 other scientific and medical journals. The full text of nearly half the world's 200 most cited journals are now available from HighWire. Only a dozen of these journals offer free access from the moment of publication, but most open up their archives within a year of publication. This means that HighWire now offers free access to the full text of over 400,000 articles, making it the largest archive of medical articles in the world.

Health Promotion Sites

Health Education Board for Scotland

The web site of the Health Education Board for Scotland. A good site for information on health promotion, diet, exercise, immunisation and other preventive activities.

Health Development Agency

The web site of the Health Development Agency for England. 

NHS Immunisation Site

The NHS's site for information on immunisation.

The NHS also has a MMR web site.

Other Sites

BBC Health

The BBC's health site.

Patient UK

The Patient UK site is a directory of health-related sources of information on the Internet. Patient UK mainly has links to British Internet sites and you may therefore find it a useful method of finding UK-sourced information on health.

Dr Alun Price's Directory of UK GP websites

If you are changing address and are looking for a practice in your new area, take a look at Dr Alun Price's directory of UK GP web sites to find out about local general practices in the area. Congratulations to Dr Price for undertaking this Sisyphean task!