Ethical policy

1. Purpose of this policy
2. Ownership and purpose of the site
3. Promotion
4. Quality
        4.1 Editorial Policy
        4.2 Review
        4.3 Questions and Answers
        4.4 Quality Assurance Initiatives
5. Links to other websites
        5.1 Aims
        5.2 UK Information
        5.3 Fund raising organisations
        5.4 Differences of opinion
        5.5 Commercial sites
6. Feedback to us
        6.1 Providing feedback
        6.2 What happens to feedback
        6.3 Difference of opinion
7. Review date

1. Purpose of this policy

We believe that seekers of health information via the internet have a right to reliable, well produced information that is accurate and up to date. The purpose of this policy is to set out our beliefs in this area and provide information on the standards for information production that we adhere to. We ensure that everyone involved in producing or reviewing information is aware of and complies with the policy statement and requirements of the Information Standard.

We endeavour to provide information that has no bias with regard to gender, religion, ethnic origin, age, sexual preference, colour, physical or mental disability.

This ethical policy is part of a process of development and review by the CancerHelp UK editorial team. As such, it may be altered at any time. If it is altered, the revised policy will be posted on this page of CancerHelp UK. This revision will be dated so that it is clear to all when it was last updated.

2. Ownership and purpose of the site

The purpose of CancerHelp UK is to provide information about cancer that is freely available to all and written in a way that people can easily understand.

CancerHelp UK is fully owned, funded and managed by Cancer Research UK. We want you to be confident that the information CancerHelp UK provides is produced and brought to you independently of any influence by outside bodies or providers of funding. Click here to see our statement of editorial independence.

3. Promotion

We do not promote the sale of health products or services. Any information provided about such products or services is described truthfully with no intent to mislead and is provided for the benefit of our service users only. We do not accept advertising.

4. Quality

Our intention is to provide information that is accurate, well supported, of high quality and easy to read. We aim to provide information that is consistent with the best available evidence. We aim to acknowledge where issues are controversial and when that is the case make efforts in good faith to present the differing arguments in a fair and balanced way.

4.1 Editorial policy

We have a documented editorial policy available to you on this link.

4.2 Review

With the exception of some routine Questions and Answers or standard treatment pages that fall entirely within the expertise of the CancerHelp UK clinical team, all information provided on CancerHelp UK is externally reviewed by relevant experts before going up on the site. All material is reviewed by the CancerHelp UK Clinical Information Manager, Clinical Trials Database Manager or Head of CancerHelp UK before going up on the site. All sections are subsequently reviewed periodically (including Questions and Answers). We operate a rolling review programme, with all sections being reviewed at least every 18 months. We alternate between in house reviews and external review. The date that pages were last reviewed is displayed on site. The date on a section menu indicates the date that the most recent changes were made within that section. Expert reviewers are provided with a small bursary at each review, to cover the costs of the work that they do for us.

4.3 Questions and Answers

The Questions and Answers pages are produced and checked within Cancer Research UK. Because the information in this section is often needed within a short space of time, it is not always practical to send it for external review prior to posting on site. All efforts are made to ensure that the information provided is accurate and not misleading in any way. If there is any area of controversy, we will contact a reviewer and clarify before posting the content on site. Sections of questions are sent for external review together with their corresponding main section ie the prostate cancer questions are sent for review along with the prostate cancer section.

4.4 Quality Assurance Initiatives

As part of our ongoing commitment to quality, we seek membership of and acceptance by other organisations conducting quality assurance initiatives. Our site carries the Plain English Campaign Crystal Mark award. We are holders of the Department of Health Information Standard.

5. Links to other websites and organisations

5.1 Aim

We endeavour to ensure that the links we provide are only to reputable organisations that provide reliable information. All external links to the site are individually considered and reviewed. The aim of links from CancerHelp UK is to provide additional information on a given subject that is either not provided on our site, or that we consider to be complementary to our own information.

5.2 UK Information

Where possible, we link to UK information providers. This is because cancer information and treatment provision can differ from country to country. As a UK site, we are committed to providing information that is most accurate and relevant to site users from the UK. Where this is not possible (in the case of less usual or rare cancers for example) we link to major overseas English speaking cancer organisations, such as the National Cancer Institute of the USA.

5.3 Fundraising organisations

As part of a charity, Cancer Research UK, we do not generally link to websites whose main or exclusive aim is fundraising for another organisation. However, CancerHelp UK does and will continue to link to other charity sites that provide material that is complementary or additional to our own information, regardless of whether that site also contains fund raising information. This is in the interests of our site users.

5.4 Differences of opinion

CancerHelp UK can and will link to sites who have a different opinion to our own on any given issue. However, we will not link to sites where the opposing viewpoint is based on poor evidence, rumour, hearsay, or uncorroborated personal opinion. We will not link to sites whose main aim is to sell an uncorroborated service or "treatment" to the public.

5.5 Commercial sites

We do not link to commercial sites where possible. However, there are situations where it is in the interests of CancerHelp UK users to be able to access information about commercial companies who are providing appliances or services that may be of benefit to them. In such cases, we will provide a link, but will make clear that this is to a commercial concern.

6. Feedback to us

We welcome feedback from our users on the information we provide and on the ease of use of our website. All feedback is read and retained to inform our site development. In addition to unsolicited site feedback, we have an ongoing programme of lay review, which complements our programme of ethical review (see our Editorial Policy). We also carry out periodic surveys of our site users and regular usability testing with representatives of our 3 main audience groups: people with cancer, relatives and friends of those with cancer, and health professionals.

6.1 Providing feedback to us
There are several ways of providing feedback to us. From any page of the site, you can give a rating out of 5 and type a comment in a text box. You can click on 'Contact Us' at the top of any page on this website, which will take you to our website feedback form, or you can email the CancerHelp UK web editor at cancerhelpuk@cancer.org.uk. If you have a question about cancer, you can write to our team of cancer information nurses using our Send a Question form. If you are in the UK and you include your email address, they will reply to you personally by email. If you would prefer a reply by post, please give your full postal address.

Please note: feedback given via the page rating system is anonymous and untraceable unless you choose to type your contact details in the text box. Please do not send questions for our nurse team via the page rating system as we cannot reply.

6.2 What happens to feedback
All feedback to the site is read and considered. If a reply is required to a non medical enquiry or complaint, the feedback form will be passed to the CancerHelp UK web editor, who will either answer it personally or pass it on to someone else in the team who has more experience with the issue raised. We endeavour to reply within 3 working days. If this is likely to be longer (due to absence of the editor for example), you will be notified that your complaint has been received and will be attended to.

6.3 Difference of opinion
While all views are considered, in the case of a differing of opinions, we reserve the right not to continue with lengthy dialogue - either written or verbal - that we perceive to be of no benefit either to us or to the initiator.