Our Editorial Process

Superdrug Online Doctor

At Superdrug Online Doctor we're committed to enabling people to make more informed decisions about their health through our website.

Authoritative and accurate online medical information can be really hard to find, and even more difficult to understand.

We want to empower people to take control of their health by creating high-quality medical content.

Our content principles

Unlike the information you'll find on many websites, Superdrug Online Doctor creates high-quality medical content that:

• provides accurate information
• is accessible
• empowers patients to take action

1. Providing accurate information

We aim to provide accurate, honest and balanced healthcare information.

All of the content we publish is written or reviewed by our doctors and pharmacists, alongside our team of medical writers and content managers.

Information on our website considers:

• clinical guidelines (outlined by organisations like NICE and the RCP)
• evidence-based studies (where current evidence is not clear, or medical opinion varies, we clearly state this)

Each page on our website shows:

• the doctor who wrote or fact-checked the page
• when it was updated or reviewed
• sources used to research the content

Our doctors and pharmacists alert our content team as soon as clinical guidelines on a medication or condition change. We then review and revise our content as appropriate so that our guidance is always up to date.

We welcome feedback on any of our content. If you see any information that you think is incorrect, please contact us at [email protected].

2. Ensuring content is accessible

We’re committed to making sure that our content is as accessible to the widest possible audience.

We carry out regular reviews of our pages, gaining opinions from our patients to understand their needs. We test our content with them to make sure it’s tailored to serving those needs as effectively as possible.

We aim to publish clear and thorough content that’s easy to understand for a range of reading abilities, and we always explain any technical medical information. We work to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and use axe to ensure that the design of our content serves patients of all abilities.

3. Empowering people to take action

The aim of our content is to empower our patients, giving them enough information to decide what action they wish to take next.

Wherever appropriate, we offer access to our fast and convenient healthcare services. Where we currently do not offer access to appropriate services, we direct patients to other suitable options, like the NHS.

Our content production process

1. Research into patients’ needs, including meeting patients face-to-face, conducting surveys, and analysing web search trends and key questions
2. Doctor or pharmacist briefing on clinical guidelines/product information
3. Content creation by doctor, pharmacist, or in-house/freelance medical writer using evidence-based studies
4. Content edit by one of our dedicated content managers for accessibility, style, spelling, grammar, and tone of voice
5. Clinical review by a doctor or pharmacist
6. Further testing with patients where necessary
7. Publish and set next review date