About the NHS website

NHS.UK - what we do

We aim to:

1. Improve health and care outcomes.
2. Improve people’s experiences of health and care services.
3. Reduce pressure on frontline services.
4. Make health and care services more efficient.

We're focused on meeting the health and care needs of people across England. We provide NHS information through a range of digital channels, including:

• the NHS website (nhs.uk)
• social media platforms
• APIs and syndication services that connect and share our content

Our offer includes:

Information about health, healthcare and social care, for example:

• symptoms, conditions and treatments
• risk factors
• self-care and self-referral advice

Information to help people access and use health and care services, for example:

• the ability to self-refer to a psychological therapy service
• profiles of service providers, including services offered, contact details and opening hours

Guidance about how to respond to major health events. This includes what people can do to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of themselves and their families. For example:

• advice on how to protect everyone's health and use the NHS in
  a pandemic

Help to change behaviour to improve health and wellbeing, for example:

• couch to 5K running plan
• advice on quitting smoking

Information to help people make more confident decisions about care and treatment, for example:

• service finders to help people choose a service that best suits their needs
• information on treatment options for different health conditions

Sharing feedback on NHS services, for example:

• our ratings and reviews service lets people give feedback on their experiences with health and care providers and allows providers to respond
• we publish patient experiences to help other people choose services

Signposting to specialist information, advice and support, for example:

• referral to charity websites and online communities for further information
• highlighting specialist apps and online services

Helping people understand their rights when using services, for example:

• letting patients choose if their data is used for research and planning
• outlining carers’ rights to support and benefits
• explaining how to complain about care and treatment

We do not provide:

• Clinical services. NHS.UK can complement such services, however it is not structured to provide clinical services in its own right. We do not, for example, provide advice based on an assessment of an individual's clinical needs.
• Health campaigns that are not primarily NHS-branded – such as Better Health. These may however still be published via our channels and will be clearly signposted from content and functionality published in our channels.
• Detailed information and guidance about policies, regulations or legislation – of the kind more appropriately published via GOV.UK and www.legislation.gov.uk.
• Public consultations – generally published on the NHS England website or on GOV.UK.
• Official information from ministers – generally published on GOV.UK
• Information for patients and service-users in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland – the responsibility of www.nhs.wales, www.hscni.net and www.nhs24.scot respectively.
• Information or services that can be more effectively supplied by other organisations, including those in the third sector, and commercial organisations.
• Information not primarily intended for a public audience.
• Professional training, qualifications, volunteering or recruitment information, advice or opportunities.
• Promoting commercial organisations without a defined user benefit.
• Information that should be hosted on GOV.UK - read more about the GOV.UK proposition.
• Organisational communications. This information, usually intended to meet an organisation’s short-term needs to manage events and current affairs is generally published on GOV.UK or the NHS England website.
• Transparency information relating to NHS services beyond NHS.UK. This information, for example data transparency notices, is generally published on the website of the organisation providing the service.