Editorial and Medical Content Policy

Last updated: 1 August 2026

1. Purpose

HappyMeds publishes medicine, sleep-health and service information to help visitors understand:

Medicines displayed on the website.
Common safety considerations.
The ordering and review process.
Delivery and customer-service procedures.
When professional or urgent medical advice may be required.

This policy explains how content is planned, written, reviewed, updated and corrected.

2. Editorial Principles

Our health and medicine content should be:

Accurate.
Clear.
Evidence-based.
Relevant to a United Kingdom audience.
Written in plain English.
Transparent about risks and limitations.
Free from misleading guarantees.
Updated when important information changes.
Clearly separated from personal medical advice.

Commercial objectives must not override patient-safety information.

3. Scope

This policy applies to:

Product information pages.
Health and medicine guides.
Blog articles.
Frequently asked questions.
Safety notices.
Ordering and review information.
Policy and customer-information pages.
Website text describing medicine-related services.

Customer reviews and other user-generated content are covered separately and do not represent editorial or medical advice.

4. Source Hierarchy

Where appropriate, health content should be based primarily on recognised sources such as:

NHS.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
British National Formulary.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Electronic Medicines Compendium.
GOV.UK.
Official patient information leaflets.
Summary of Product Characteristics documents.
Relevant professional or regulatory guidance.
Peer-reviewed scientific research.

Commercial competitor websites should not be treated as the primary source for medical claims.

Competitor websites may be reviewed for usability, page structure or common customer questions, but medical and legal statements should be independently checked.

5. Writing Process

Before publication, a content page should normally go through the following process:

Define the purpose and intended audience.
Identify the primary customer question.
Gather appropriate sources.
Draft the content in clear UK English.
Check medical and safety statements.
Check legal and operational claims.
Review headings and page structure.
Correct grammar and readability.
Add the publication or review date.
Obtain approval where specialist review is required.

6. Authors

Content may be prepared by:

An appropriately experienced health-content writer.
An editor.
A subject-matter contributor.
A suitably qualified healthcare professional.
A member of the HappyMeds content team.

Where an individual author is named, their role should be accurately stated.

Qualifications or professional titles must not be invented, exaggerated or used without permission.

7. Medical Review

Content involving medicine use, side effects, interactions, dependence, contraindications, pregnancy, dosage or emergency information should receive appropriate clinical review before being described as “medically reviewed”.

A medical-review statement should only be displayed where a real and suitably qualified person has completed the review.

Where displayed, the statement may include:

Reviewer’s name.
Professional role or qualification.
Review date.
Next scheduled review date.

A generic business or brand name must not be presented as a medical reviewer.

8. Editorial Review

Editorial review may include checks for:

Accuracy.
Readability.
Clear headings.
Unnecessary repetition.
Unsupported claims.
UK terminology.
Consistency between pages.
Appropriate disclaimers.
Internal and external link accuracy.
Spelling and grammar.
Outdated product or service information.

9. Content Review Schedule

Medicine and health content should be reviewed at least once every 12 months.

Earlier review should take place where:

New safety information is issued.
A patient information leaflet changes.
Official clinical guidance changes.
A medicine is recalled.
A product or strength changes.
Website services or order processes change.
A factual error is reported.
A relevant law or regulatory requirement changes.
A page receives credible professional feedback.

High-risk safety corrections should be made as soon as reasonably possible.

10. Publication and Review Dates

Health and medicine pages should display, where appropriate:

Original publication date.
Last updated date.
Last medically reviewed date, where applicable.

A date must not be changed merely to make old content appear recent.

The date should be updated only where the page has been meaningfully reviewed or revised.

11. Medical Claims

Content must not:

Guarantee that a medicine will work.
Guarantee approval or supply.
Claim that a medicine is risk-free.
Encourage customers to increase a dose.
Recommend ignoring professional advice.
Suggest that prescription requirements can be avoided.
Present customer preference as a clinical decision.
Hide material side effects or warnings.
Describe a medicine as suitable for everyone.
Use unverified superiority or “best treatment” claims.

Benefits and risks should be presented in a fair and balanced way.

12. Commercial Independence

Prices, product availability or commercial objectives must not change the accuracy of medical information.

Medical and safety content should not be removed merely because it could reduce a sale.

Clinical decisions remain independent of editorial or marketing decisions.

13. Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

Digital or automated tools may assist with:

Research organisation.
Grammar.
Formatting.
Summarisation.
Content planning.

Such tools must not replace appropriate human checking.

Medical, legal and safety information must be verified against suitable sources before publication.

Automatically generated citations, qualifications, statistics or medical claims must not be published without verification.

14. Customer Reviews

Customer reviews may describe genuine service experiences, such as:

Communication.
Delivery.
Packaging.
Website usability.
Customer support.

Reviews must not be treated as medical evidence.

We may remove or moderate a review containing:

Unverified medical claims.
Dangerous instructions.
Personal medical information.
False or misleading statements.
Promotional spam.
Abusive or unlawful content.

15. Corrections

Visitors may report a possible content error by contacting:

help@happymeds.uk

Include:

The page title or URL.
The statement believed to be incorrect.
The reason for concern.
A reliable supporting source where available.

We will review credible correction requests.

Where an error is confirmed, we may:

Correct the page.
Add clarification.
Remove unsupported content.
Update the review date.
Add a correction notice where the error was significant.

16. Conflicts of Interest

Named authors and reviewers should disclose a relevant financial or professional conflict where it could reasonably affect the content.

Commercial relationships must not be allowed to misrepresent medicine information or hide safety concerns.

17. External Links

External links may be included where they provide useful supporting information.

Preference should be given to:

Official public-health sources.
Regulators.
Recognised clinical guidance.
Official medicine information.
High-quality peer-reviewed evidence.

An external link does not mean that HappyMeds controls or endorses every part of the external website.

18. Medical Disclaimer

Website content is general information only.

It does not replace individual advice, diagnosis, treatment or an assessment from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

Visitors should seek professional advice where they have questions about symptoms, medicines, side effects, interactions, pregnancy or treatment suitability.

For emergencies, call 999.

For urgent non-emergency advice in the United Kingdom, contact NHS 111.

19. Contact

For content corrections, editorial feedback or questions, contact:

Email: help@happymeds.uk