NHS Direct Wales have launched a new website, after research indicated that two-thirds of the country use the internet for health information.
The new website, www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk, was launched last Thursday to give patients and public more information to make decisions about their own health and care.
It was developed by the information service in partnership with Informing Healthcare, the Welsh Assembly government programme set up to modernise the NHS as part of the ‘Making the Connections’ vision for a prosperous, sustainable, bilingual, healthier and better-educated Wales.
The aim is to help more Welsh people to get improved access to information they need from other patients, public and health professionals and following the research in December by Informing Healthcare, who decided to update the previous NHS Direct Wales website.
Minister for health and social services, Dr Brian Gibbons, said: “We know that people want to get information they can trust from the internet to help them make personal decisions about their own health and this web site should now be the first place they look.”
In designing the website, NHS Direct Wales added new features for the public including a health encyclopaedia, which covers over 650 A-Z health topics.
It also more local services searches and detailed health information, including details about local family doctors, opticians, sexual health clinics, social services, dentists and pharmacies.
A spokesperson for NHS Direct Wales told E-Health Insider: “Research indicates that people want more information online about their local health services. They want to find out from home about the care available, such as opening times, access and specialist services.”
The website also includes a text messaging service where information such as the telephone number of the nearest doctor can be sent by text to a mobile phone.
The spokesperson added: “The content of the site is driven by public need, taken from information gained by NHS Direct Wales from both the users of the website and from the most popular topics about which the NHS Direct Wales telephone service receives calls.”
Mark Smith, manager of Info-Nation, an information centre for young people in Swansea, said: “The local search facility will be particularly useful for young people. They will be able to access up-to-date, relevant information regarding doctors, pharmacies and sexual health services, wherever they have access to the internet and whenever they require it.”
The site will also be useful for people managing long term conditions. Individuals with specific enquiries can email for an electronic Information Prescription Pack tailor-made to their condition, giving them information to help understand and live with their illness, whilst empowering them to make the right decisions.
NHS Direct Wales’ health information manager, Leanne Hawker, said: “Health information is not just for those who are experiencing ill health; it benefits those who are looking for information on maintaining good health, and prevention of illness.”
Informing for Healthcare hope this is the first of many new health information websites they launch and are continuing to work with its partners, the Wales Centre for Health, Health Solution Wales, the National Public Health Service and the Welsh Assembly government to ensure the new websites meet the needs of clinicians, patients and the public.
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