NHS Direct

Partnerships with NHS Direct

NHS Direct is the leading provider of integrated health advice, and our on-line health advice is used over 5 million times a year. All of our online content meets rigorous clinical standards and provides a valuable link to onward care, including webchat, a direct link to our telephone service or on to other health care providers.

Our online symptom checkers are now available for partners to integrate in to their own website, allowing you to offer this valuable service straight to your users.

What is a symptom checker?

A symptom checker is NHS Direct’s online tool to help people quickly and easily find the right treatment for their medical problem. The symptom checker runs people through a set of simple questions, written by medical experts, and then gives them advice on either how to care for themselves or which professionals they need to contact.

If the symptom checker identifies more complex problems, the user can either chat online with an NHS Direct advisor or enter their phone number to be called back by one of our specialist nurses, 24 hours a day.

A full range of symptom checkers will be available by November 2010. See our A to Z of symptom checker topics for an idea of the areas we will be covering.

How does it add value to my website?

If your users have an interest in health advice, or you offer any health resources, then NHS Direct symptom checkers can offer free, impartial and professional advice straight away. This information helps build loyalty to your website and can also increase traffic through search engines.

Whilst NHS Direct does not endorse any third party website, you will be able to use the NHS Direct logo next to the symptom checker, and the high brand recognition this enjoys will reassure your users of the professional level of advice offered.

Partners must be primarily focused on, or used by, people in England or the UK. Websites specifically for a region of the UK other than England should contact their local information provider. If you are based in Scotland contact NHS24 or if you are in Wales contact NHS Direct Wales.

How will it look on my website?

Our symptom checkers can be embedded directly in to your website, and this can be done in a number of ways, including a simple embedded application to a fully integrated XML feed. Contact us for more information.