Useful addresses
We have included the following organisations because, on preliminary investigation, they may be of use to the reader. However, we do not have first-hand experience of each organisation and so cannot guarantee the organisation’s integrity. The reader must therefore exercise his or her own discretion and judgement when making further enquiries.
Allergy UK (British Allergy Foundation)
Planwell House, LEFA Business Park, Edgington Way
Sidcup, Kent DA14 5BH
Helpline: 01322 619898
Website: www.allergyuk.org
Encompasses all types of allergies and offers information, quarterly newsletter and support network; translation cards for travel abroad.
Anaphylaxis Campaign
PO Box 275, Farnborough
Hants GU14 6SX
Helpline: 01252 542029
Website: www.anaphylaxis.org.uk
Campaigns for better awareness of life-threatening allergic reactions from food and drug allergies to bee and wasp stings. Produces a wide range of educational news sheets and videos and has extensive support network. Send an SAE for information.
Asthma UK
Summit House, 70 Wilson Street
London EC2A 2DB
Tel: 020 7786 4900
Helpline: 0800 121 6244 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm)
Website: www.asthma.org.uk
Provides a wide range of information for people with asthma and their families. Helpline staffed by specialist asthma nurses. Has some support groups and funds medical research. Offers supervised holidays for young people with asthma. The following are branches of Asthma UK, providing a wide range of information for people with asthma and their families. Funds medical research.
Asthma UK Cymru
3rd floor, Eastgate House 34–43 Newport Road
Cardiff CF24 0AB
Tel: 029 2043 5400
Asthma UK Northern Ireland
Ground floor, Unit 2, College House
City Link Business Park, Durham Street
Belfast BT12 4HQ
Tel: 0800 151 3035
Asthma UK Scotland
4 Queen Street
Edinburgh EH2 1JE
Tel: 0131 226 2544
Benefits Enquiry Line
Tel: 0800 882200
Minicom: 0800 243355
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk
N. Ireland: 0800 220674
Government agency giving information and advice on sickness and disability benefits for people with disabilities and their carers.
British Lung Foundation
73–75 Goswell Road
London EC1V 7ER
Helpline: 0845 850 5020 (Mon–Fri 10am–6pm)
Website: www.lunguk.org
Raises funds for research into all forms of lung disease. Offers information leaflets and has a series of self-help groups around the country, The Breathe Easy Club, largely run by patients.
British Thoracic Society
17 Doughty Street
London WC1N 2PL
Tel: 020 7831 8778
Website: www.brit-thoracic.org.uk
Professional organisation; includes some patient advice and information on website.
Clinical Knowledge Summaries
Sowerby Centre for Health Informatics at Newcastle (SCHIN Ltd), Clayton House, Clayton Road, Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1TL
Tel: 0845 113 1000
Website: www.schin.co.uk
A website mainly for GPs giving information for patients listed by disease plus named self-help organisations.
Education for Health
The Athenaeum, 10 Church Street
Warwick CV34 4AB
Tel: 01926 493313
Website: www.educationforhealth.org.uk
Aims to provide a consistent, comprehensive and innovative approach to professional health training in the fields of allergic conditions, respiratory health, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Formerly called the National Respiratory Training Centre.
Midlands Asthma and Allergy Research Association (MAARA)
PO Box 1057
Leicester LE2 3GZ
Tel: 0116 247 9888
Website: www.maara.org
A research and support association offering advice and information for people with asthma and allergies, their families as well as health professionals.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
MidCity Place, 71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6NA
Tel: 0845 003 7780
Website: www.nice.org.uk
Provides national guidance on the promotion of good health and treatment of ill-health. Patient information leaflets are available for each piece of guidance issued.
NHS Direct
Tel: 0845 4647 (24 hours, 365 days a year)
Website: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Offers confidential health-care advice, information and referral service. A good first port of call for any health advice.
NHS Smoking Helpline
Freephone: 0800 022 4332 (9am–8pm Mon–Fri, 11am–5pm Sat, Sun)
Website: http://smokefree.nhs.uk
Pregnancy smoking helpline: 0800 169 9169 (times as above)
Have advice, help and encouragement on giving up smoking. Specialist advisers available to offer ongoing support to those who genuinely are trying to give up smoking. Can refer to local branches.
Patients’ Association
PO Box 935
Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3YJ
Helpline: 0845 608 4455 Tel: 020 8423 9111
Website: www.patients-association.com
Provides advice on patients’ rights, leaflets and a directory of self-help groups.
Quit (Smoking Quitlines)
63 St Mary’s Axe
London EC3A 8AA
Helpline: 0800 002200 (9am–9pm, 365 days a year)
Tel: 020 7469 0400
Website: www.quit.org.uk
Offers individual advice on giving up smoking in English and Asian languages. Talks to schools on smoking and pregnancy and can refer to local support groups. Runs training courses for professionals.
Useful websites
BBC
A helpful website: easy to navigate and offers lots of useful advice and information. Also contains links to other related topics.
Bodytalkonline
Series of online presentations about different medical conditions.
European Federation of Asthma and Allergy Associations (EFAnet)
Aims to give comprehensive, unbiased information on aspects of asthma and allergy.
Healthtalkonline
Website of the DIPEx charity.
NHS choices
Government’s patient information portal.
Patient UK
Patient care website.
The internet as a further source of information
After reading this book, you may feel that you would like further information on the subject. The internet is of course an excellent place to look and there are many websites with useful information about medical disorders, related charities and support groups.
For those who do not have a computer at home some bars and cafes offer facilities for accessing the internet. These are listed in the Yellow Pages under ‘Internet Bars and Cafes’ and ‘Internet Providers’. Your local library offers a similar facility and has staff to help you find the information that you need.
It should always be remembered, however, that the internet is unregulated and anyone is free to set up a website and add information to it. Many websites offer impartial advice and information that has been compiled and checked by qualified medical professionals. Some, on the other hand, are run by commercial organisations with the purpose of promoting their own products. Others still are run by pressure groups, some of which will provide carefully assessed and accurate information whereas others may be suggesting medications or treatments that are not supported by the medical and scientific community.
Unless you know the address of the website you want to visit – for example, www.familydoctor.co.uk– you may find the following guidelines useful when searching the internet for information.
Search engines and other searchable sites
Google (www.google.co.uk) is the most popular search engine used in the UK, followed by Yahoo! (http://uk.yahoo.com) and MSN (www.msn.co.uk). Also popular are the search engine provided by Internet Service Providers such as Tiscali and other sites such as the BBC site (www.bbc.co.uk).
In addition to the search engines that index the whole web, there are also medical sites with search facilities, which act almost like mini-search engines, but cover only medical topics or even a particular area of medicine. Again, it is wise to look at who is responsible for compiling the information offered to ensure that it is impartial and medically accurate. The NHS Direct site (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk) is an example of a searchable medical site.
Links to many British medical charities can be found at the Association of Medical Research Charities website (www.amrc.org.uk) and at Charity Choice (www.charitychoice.co.uk).
Search phrases
Be specific when entering a search phrase. Searching for information on ‘cancer’ will return results for many different types of cancer as well as on cancer in general. You may even find sites offering astrological information. More useful results will be returned by using search phrases such as ‘lung cancer’ and ‘treatments for lung cancer’. Both Google and Yahoo! offer an advanced search option that includes the ability to search for the exact phrase, enclosing the search phrase in quotes, that is, ‘treatments for lung cancer’ will have the same effect. Limiting a search to an exact phrase reduces the number of results returned but it is best to refine a search to an exact match only if you are not getting useful results with a normal search. Adding ‘UK’ to your search term will bring up mainly British sites, so a good phrase might be ‘lung cancer’ UK (don’t include UK within the quotes).
Always remember the internet is international and unregulated. It holds a wealth of valuable information but individual sites may be biased, out of date or just plain wrong. Family Doctor Publications accepts no responsibility for the content of links published in this series.
