A new online health website has launched to help give patients more control of their health.
Our Health Directory, found at ourhealth.directory, has been created by the College of Medicine to offer a reliable, evidence-based user-friendly online guide to a range of conditions and symptoms – including back pain, depression and IBS – to help empower both patients and healthcare professionals.
The information has been compiled by academics able to assess the evidence, who are also experienced clinicians and can pragmatically meet patient needs for safe advice in the science gaps.
Our Health Directory includes the Self Care Toolkit, a revived version of a project originally commissioned by the Department of Health as a resource for the home management of twelve common conditions, and now held in trust by the College as a free resource for all.
SOME OF THE CONDITIONS PATIENTS CAN RESEARCH USING THE SELF CARE TOOLKIT
- DEPRESSION
- FATIGUE
- BACKPAIN
- IBS
- MENOPAUSE
- HEADACHES
The College of Medicine’s Simon Mills explains the reasons for providing the new Our Health Directory, saying: “We all know that the internet can be an unreliable guide. There are too many out there selling pet theories and untried products, and who take advantage of the distressed and vulnerable.
Mills adds: “What we now have in Our Health Guide is user-friendly information informed by years of clinical practice, that is evidence-based and that comes from people who care.
“This guide should sensibly also address the common questions that patients have, about natural options, about diet advice, about herbs and complementary methods, often things we did not learn ourselves.”
