Useful links

We have put together a selection of links that we hope you find useful, covering the following areas:

• Support Groups
• Medical Research
• Medical Associations and Review Bodies
• Regulatory and Governmental Healthcare Bodies

Support Groups

As we explain on our What Can YOU Do? page, many of our clients have found it very helpful to join a group that puts them in touch with other people in a similar situation. There are thousands of patient groups and charities throughout the UK, providing information and support for patients and carers across the whole spectrum of medical conditions. Patient UK is a highly recommended resource, which includes a directory of over 2,000 UK self-help groups, patient groups, charities, and similar organisations.

Some of the groups with which our department has close ties are:

• Baby Lifeline
• Children's Heart Federation
• Disabled Parents Network
• The Erb's Palsy Group
• Headway Devon
• The Meningitis Trust

In addition to the groups and charities that concentrate on specific medical conditions and complaints, there are a number of groups that exist to support anyone who has an interest in healthcare generally:

AvMA(Action against Medical Accidents) is an independent charity that prides itself on being "the only organisation working exclusively for the victims of medical accidents". We are one of a limited number of firms who are approved members of AvMA's panel of solicitors.

CDCA(Constructive Dialogue for Clinical Accountability) describes itself as "a charity set up to encourage communication and trust between health professionals and their patients." Michelmores has close links with the organisation, and we have acted as their legal advisers.

The Patients Association is a campaigning group that exists "to support patients' rights and to improve healthcare services".

Medical Research

These links will direct you to a number of sites that provide general medical information, some of which we use extensively ourselves:

• Medical Dictionary is the most complete on-line dictionary of medical terms.
• Medilexicon provides an on-line medical dictionary and list of acronyms and abbreviations, with medical news and search facilities.
• Medline Medical Encyclopaedia is a detailed encyclopaedia of medical information.
• The Merck Manual is often thought of as the authoritative medical encyclopaedia.
• If you are interested in paediatric healthcare, we recommend the Paediatric Handbook produced by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
• The British Medical Journal's website contains a full, free-access archive of many years' worth of articles.
• Entrez PubMed is a search engine that allows you to look through many hundreds of thousands of medical publications.  We use this facility constantly in investigating claims.  It takes a while to get used to the system but, if you are able to do so, you have the last 30 years' medical research at your disposal.
• Finally, you can get free online access to the full text of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, a textbook that was published back in 1918.  Although there are more modern works dealing with this subject, Gray's remains a standard work of reference.

Medical Associations and Review Bodies

• The British Medical Association
• The General Dental Council
• The General Medical Council
• The Royal College of General Practitioners
• The Royal College of Nursing
• The Royal College of Surgeons
• The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
• The Nursing and Midwifery Council

Regulatory and Governmental Healthcare Bodies

• Care Quality Commission
• Local Involvement Networks
• Department of Health
• Health Service Ombudsman
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA)
• National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)
• National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
• The NHS

Please note that the links featured on this page are to third party websites over which we have no control.