About

Glasgow's Health Hub aims to provide an electronic one-stop shop for information about health and health related issues for citizens of Glasgow and the Greater Glasgow area.

The site provides access to:

Glasgow's Health Hub has been developed in partnership between Greater Glasgow NHS, Glasgow City Council and the Higher Education sector. An Editorial Group with representation from the partner organisations is responsible for developing the content of the site.

Use the Search option to find resources based on your keyword(s) entry or browse the health and social care topics via the home page.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria are used in the selection of websites for Glasgow's Health Hub. Sites added to our database should fulfil the majority of the following requirements:

1. Authorship / Authority

Who has authored the site, and how can it be checked?

Use the URL to ascertain the source of the site - is it affiliated with an official body?
Use the "linked to" function provided by AltaVista and Google search engines - do other reputable sites link to this one as a useful source of information?
If claims are made about professional status, are these accompanied by links to a professional body?
Are official logos in use on the site?
Does the site subscribe to the HON code and display its logo?
Are there hyperlinks or references to allow any claims to be backed up and to provide extra information on the subject being discussed?
Is the site sponsored or funded by an interested party eg a commercial organisation, and if so is this interest declared openly?
Look carefully for evidence that such sponsorship might be "skewing" the information provided.


2. Currency

When was the site created?
Are there dates clearly displayed - preferably on every page - about when the site was created or updated?
Is the information more than a few months old?
How likely is the age of the information to affect its accuracy?
Is there any policy statement about how often the site is updated?


3. Context

Who is the intended audience?
Are there appropriate disclaimers about the scope of the information (especially if it is intended for the general public?)
Are there links to other resources to allow the information to be seen in a wider context?
In general, UK, Scottish and Glasgow sites to be preferred over US or European sites.

4. Clarity

Is the information well presented and laid out?
Does it use appropriate language?
Does the use of colour, font, graphics etc make the information more attractive and easy to use or is it distracting and confusing?
Does the site use frames and can it be used without them (frames can make sites more difficult to navigate for disabled users)
Is it easy to navigate the site?
Is there an option to return to the homepage on each page?
Is there a site map link and is it located in a prominent position?


References:

Silberg, W.M., Lundberg, G.D. and Musacchio, R. A. Assessing, controlling and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet. JAMA 1997 (277): 1244-1245

Health on the Net Foundation. HON Code of Conduct for medical and health Websites. Jan 2000. http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html (checked 17/08/05)

BIOME Factors affecting the quality of an information source. Dec 2000. http://biome.ac.uk/guidelines/eval/factors.html (checked 17/08/05)

QUICK (Quality Information Checklist) http://www.quick.org.uk (checked 17/08/05)

DISCERN (British Library tool for Evaluation of Patient Information) http://www.discern.org.uk/ (checked 17/08/05)

If you would like to nominate a site to be considered for Glasgow's Health Hub please use the Nomination form.


If you have any comments about any aspect of the site please use the Contact page.