Patient Information
Last updated: October 2025
This page contains links to resources to help patients find and assess good quality health information.
⚠️Caution: You should always discuss information you have found online with the healthcare team who are looking after you. Never start or stop a course of medication or treatment without talking to your doctor first.
Finding health information
Below are some sources of health information.
Organisations
- NHS website
- East Cheshire NHS Trust Patient Leaflets
- Patient.info
- Patient Information Forum
- NHS Library Service: Health information for patients
For information on conditions and treatments, specialist websites will be a useful resource. These are often run by charities, for example: British Heart Foundation, Macmillan, Age UK. You can find a list of organisations that have been certified by the Patient Information Forum here.
Your NHS account
You can access your NHS account online or through the NHS app. With your NHS account, you can order repeat prescriptions, manage your appointments, and view your health record including test results. You can get help setting up your NHS account through your local library. You can find information about Cheshire East libraries here.
- Create your NHS login
- Video guides on using your NHS account on the NHS website
- Video guides on using the NHS app
- Your NHS data: you can choose if data from your health records is shared for research purposes. This page contains information on what this means and how to opt out.
Free evidence-based resources
The resources below are aimed at healthcare staff but are accessible to everyone.
- NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries: information on different clinical specialties based on the latest evidence by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
- NICE Guidance: a list of the guidance produced by NICE.
- Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews: learn more about systematic reviews here.
- NIHR Evidence: plain English summaries of recently published health research.
Books
- Cheshire East: Search for books held in your local public library.
- Cheshire East Libraries health and wellbeing offer.
- Reading Well: a campaign by The Reading Agency with reading lists compiled by health experts.
You are also welcome to access the book stock in the East Cheshire NHS Trust Library, please contact us to arrange an appointment.
Tel: 01625 661362
Email: ecn-tr.stafflibrary@nhs.net
Easy read guides
Below are links to easy read health guides and patient information leaflets, written for people with a learning disability or autistic people.
- Change People: free easy read resources.
- Easy Health: online library of accessible health information, with leaflets and films.
- NHS: Getting ready for a talk about your health and 3 Questions for better health.
- NHS England: Easy read information.
Translated patient information
Information available in languages other than English.
- WHO Health Topics: available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.
- Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust: Resource library, filter resources by language.
- Macmillan Cancer Support: Translated cancer information.
- BEAMS: Postnatal resources in different languages.
- NHS: Health information in other languages.
Websites
- Access to Research: free access to academic articles through public libraries.
- The Brain Charity: information on a wide range of neurological conditions.
- Contact: information, advice and support for families with disabled children.
- Great Ormond Street Hospital: information on children’s health.
- Health Talk: personal stories on living with a range of conditions.
- Lab Tests Online UK: information about common tests used to diagnose and treat different conditions.
- Medicines for children: information on medicines your child may have been prescribed, and tips on giving medicine to children.
- Recovering from surgery: information from the Royal College of Surgeons to help you make a speedy recovery after surgery.
- What? Why? Children in hospital: a UK charity helping children and parents prepare for hospital, includes videos to help prepare children for various procedures.
Understanding and assessing health information
Medical terminology
- NHS acronym buster: a dictionary of commonly used acronyms in the NHS.
- Abbreviations you may find in your health record: a list of commonly used abbreviations that healthcare staff use that you may see in your health record.
- Understanding medical words: a tutorial from Medline Plus on how medical words are put together.
- Jargon buster: plain English definitions of words and phrases used in health and social care.
Fact checking
Below are some resources on fact checking health information you find online or see in news articles.
- Full Fact: an independent fact checker, with a section on health.
- Ferret Fact Service: a non-partisan fact checking service from Scottish news platform The Ferret.
- BBC Verify: short audio updates from the BBC on current events and disinformation.
- Research the Headlines: looks at the research behind health news headlines.
- Science Media Centre: Roundups for journalists: responses from experts to science news.
Spotting fake news
- Consider the source: click away from the story to investigate the site.
- Read beyond: headlines can be intentionally outrageous to get clicks, read the story beyond the headline.
- Check the author: do a quick search on the author. Are the credible? Are they real?
- Supporting sources: if the article or page lists their sources, click through to check in the information given there actually supports the story.
- Check the date: reposting old news stories doesn’t mean they’re relevant to current events, and they could have outdated information within them.
- Is it a joke: if it seems too outlandish, it might be satire. Research the site to be sure.
- Check your biases: consider if your own belief could affect your judgement.
- Ask the experts: consult a fact checking site or you can ask a librarian for help.