Information: Websites recommended by the NHS
Faced with the problems of getting an appointment at a GP surgery, many parents now turn to NHS Direct for advice. But when we tried to search the NHS Direct website for information on head lice, it was being so over-used, it couldn't return any results.
We then tried their 24 hour helpline – 0845 4647 – but this would only take messages. Someone did call back the next day, but wouldn't offer any medical advice. Suggesting instead that we look at a number of Internet sites.
These are the sites, with a link to the page we felt offered best advice.
Patient UK
www.patient.co.uk : Best page : Our rating **
Our comments: Searching on the term 'head lice' brings up a number of pages, as well as links to other sites. But it's not easy to find general advice, and much of the information is aimed at health professionals.
Health Protection Agency
www.hpa.org.uk : Best page : Our rating *
Our comments: A search for 'head lice' generates a Google-style listing of 49 links. But none of these provide any summary of what the pages contain. Not a very user-friendly site.
Best Treatments
www.besttreatments.co.uk : Best page : Our rating ****
Our comments: Published by the British Medical Journal, we found this site the easiest to use, with an entire section on head lice. The introduction page contains links to a wide range of information.
NHS Direct
www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk : Best page : Our rating ***
Our comments: The site suffers from being over-used. But when we did manage to search on the term 'head lice', it generated 30 hits. We were pleased to see a recommendation on the treatment options page to try wet-combing because: 'head lice are growing increasingly resistant to insecticides'.
