Professional health information

Information posted on the site can support but not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals. Information from the site may inform your discussions and exploration of treatment options with healthcare professionals. You should always consult a healthcare professional if considering changing treatment or medication.

Community atmosphere

Your participation in the site should be with respect, honesty and in the spirit of supporting and learning from your fellow users.

You are reminded that the site is not the forum to 'name and shame' or to create negative feedback on identifiable individuals. Negative references to identifiable individuals are likely to be edited or deleted.

Posting content

Content should be taken as the views of the individual member and does not represent the views of the patient group or of HealthUnlocked.

Posting content on your HealthUnlocked community is taken as your agreement to post information that is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. You agree to post information that is primarily drawn from your personal experience.

Any content posted on the HealthUnlocked community can be read, used, reproduced and cited by other users of the site. You have the option to delete content you have posted.

Where users post third party information, such as information on new treatments, you are asked to provide references and links wherever relevant and possible.

Moderating content

Content that users post on a HealthUnlocked community is moderated by the patient group and, on occasion, by HealthUnlocked. Moderation takes place after content is posted.

Moderation helps maintain positive, open discussion and content may be edited or removed to ensure that the community is supportive and responsive to the majority. Content may be edited or deleted even where it is not negative, abusive, malicious or deliberately misleading of itself.

Content should never be abusive, malicious or deliberately misleading. If you consider someone else's content is, please report it via the 'Report abuse' option or via the Feedback button to the HealthUnlocked team. Content like this is likely to be edited or removed.

Individual members may not be informed where content is edited or deleted. Moderation is subject to capacity and often relies on individual judgment. Where content is edited or deleted neither the patient group nor HealthUnlocked need to provide a reason for this.

As moderation occurs after posting, neither the patient group nor HealthUnlocked is responsible for any injury or offence that a member may draw from another member's content.

Private messaging

The "Messages" module is commonly referred to as private messages or messaging. HealthUnlocked can access all messages sent on the platform and may do so if it considers it important to the safe running of the site for all members.

Online safety

Members should not paste personal contact information on the site though may choose to do so in the Messages module. Members should have general regard to their online safety; information on online security is widely available, for example from www.direct.gov.uk.

Members should refer also to HealthUnlocked's Terms of Use.