Editorial, source and automation policy

Purpose

MyPHU is a public health information and signposting service. It is designed to help people find understandable information and appropriate official services. It does not diagnose illness, prescribe treatment or replace assessment by a qualified healthcare professional.

Primary health information

Structured condition, symptom and medicine information may be synchronised from the NHS website. When a page contains NHS material, MyPHU retains the original source URL, identifies the NHS as the source, displays refresh information where available and preserves the required Open Government Licence attribution.

MyPHU is independent and is not operated by, affiliated with or endorsed by the NHS.

Country-aware guidance

For supported countries outside Great Britain, MyPHU uses official or recognised public-health sources for local signposting. Where reuse terms do not clearly permit republication, MyPHU links to the official source rather than copying its content. The country guidance page explains the sources and approach used for each supported country.

How automation is used

Automation is used to retrieve, validate, store, refresh and publish structured source material and to keep directories and links up to date. Automation is a publishing and maintenance tool; it is not presented as a doctor, and automated output must not be used to invent a diagnosis or replace the meaning of the underlying source.

MyPHU does not claim that every syndicated page has received a separate independent clinical review by MyPHU. Where health information is syndicated, the original source and the date of the MyPHU refresh are the important provenance signals.

Updates and corrections

Source feeds are refreshed through automated processes. A page may therefore change when its source changes. MyPHU also maintains operational controls for failed synchronisation, corrupted content and other incidents that could affect the accuracy or availability of displayed information.

Safety

Urgent and emergency instructions shown in source material are treated as safety-critical content. The MyPHU self-check is general signposting only. If someone is seriously ill, in immediate danger or has emergency warning signs, they should use the emergency service for their country rather than rely on a website.

Commercial content

Health-information pages and source attribution are kept distinct from product or commercial content. Any future affiliate or advertising relationships do not change the source of syndicated medical information.

Policy published: 12 August 2026.