EMIS has announced that its health information website, Patient UK, is launching a new interactive forum, called Patient Experience, to encourage more people to share their real-life experiences.
The website already attracts over 2.5m monthly visitors and the GP clinical software supplier feels that now is the right time to open the site up to discussion enable users to share thoughts about their illness or medical condition.
EMIS’s managing director, Sean Riddell, told E-Health Insider: “We found that the site was being used by over two million people every month and many patients were leaving postings about their own personal experiences, so we thought that it would be a nice touch to open up the material more into discussions which would allow patients looking up the same information to discuss their experiences with each other.”
There are already more than 17,000 postings on the site, many of which are personal accounts of how patients have been dealing with conditions such as arthritis, autism and depression.
Riddell added: “The interactive forum will help to make patients feel that they are not the only ones who are suffering with a certain condition, but instead will allow them to have open, frank discussions with people with similar problems. It will let them share their experiences of how they are coping and brings a new theme to the website where the patient becomes the expert.”
Patient UK currently features a search and browse capability which makes it easier for users to locate experiences, keep in touch with one another and consult up-to-date reference articles or support material relating to a specific condition. These will also be available on the Patient Experience forum.
For topical issues or subjects with a large number of postings, doctors contribute informed medical opinion to the discussion.
Dr Beverley Kenny, one of the GPs who set up the site 12 years ago, said: “The main strength of the internet is that you can find people who have had the same problems as you and see how they have coped with them. This new forum offers a great support network and personal insights into real-life scenarios.
“Patient UK is becoming a fantastic resource for people really wanting to understand disease and treatment. Although the web will never outweigh the benefits of a face-to-face meeting with a GP, we are seeing that more people are willing to help themselves by taking advantage of the high quality health information now available online.”
As well as online, the content is also available to the majority of UK GP practices and to many hospital trusts through clinical systems and kiosks.
Riddell said: “The aim of the forum is to add to the existing content of Patient UK and provide a supportive element for readers looking at how they cope, any drug interactions and what procedures they have had and share these experiences between each other. Effectively, it will be a support group allowing people to hold real-time discussions and contact individuals directly to offer support and track progress.”
The Patient Experience forum can be accessed directly from the Patient UK homepage, www.patient.co.uk. Users can browse the site by medical subject and post images to accompany their comments.
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