Find out what Mumsnet testers thought of Healthily

[GraceEMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnet users who tested Healthily and its Smart Symptom Checker.

Testers, you can now share your feedback! Please do so by responding to the questions below on this thread, as well as filling in the survey that we have emailed to you.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

All testers who leave the required feedback will receive a £5 Amazon voucher and an annual subscription to the Healthily app!

Here’s what Healthily has to say:

“Healthily is a health information website, an award-winning app and a sophisticated Smart Symptom Checker – one of the most accurate and advanced in the world. Healthily provides medically safe information that helps anyone, anywhere, decide on the best next steps and how to manage their health and wellbeing safely at home.”

Thanks!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes, very easy to use. Great features. I especially liked how detailed it was rather than simple yes, no answers.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The information on the website is really helpful and informative. A wide range of articles under each topic to specifically help you in lots of wats.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Website was quick and easy to use, page links made sense and each article linked to further related articles which is helpful.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes, lots of useful information that I have used to try and help any health concerns I had.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes, it was excellent actually. I inputted current symptoms regarding a headache and other details and it finally linked to saying I had Covid-19. I took an LFT and indeed it came up positive. I would not have known prior to this symptom checker!

1)Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

• it was easy to use however I did this relating to severe PMS symptoms and it told me I could manage my symptoms at home which for me is untrue. It came across quite black and white and I’d rather see a DR (or at least speak on the phone) to really discuss things.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

The articles were well written and useful for looking up health issues and related subjects.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

Yes the website is easy to navigate and laid out well.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

Yes, lots of information on this.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

It addressed them and the information given could of made others not seek further help when in actual fact for me at least I needed proper prescription meds and was not able to manage this at home as this suggested. So going off this I would of said no I wasn’t confident on what to do next as I had already tried unsuccessfully to manage symptoms at home.

The overall idea of healthily is good however I think it needs some tweaks and the monthly subscription cost is fairly high to say most people would google their concerns for free or speak to a DR.
This does have the potential though.

Lord, I don't know if I used this app correctly but it's not for me.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes this was easy to use but every symptom/symptoms I entered either told me to ring my GP or ring 111/999. I can do that without an app telling me to. These weren't things like chest pain/bleeding etc. I've recently been diagnosed anaemic and this app didn't pick up on that. The app itself was easy to use but useless

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Yeah relatively useful info but agin, I don't need an app to tell me to eat regular meals and a balanced plate. Seems a bit "simple". On a positive, they cover a wide range of subjects/topics so most things were covered.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? Yes the website is clearly laid out and easy to use.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes albeit of little use

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? Yes several times. No, each time I was told to ring my GP or 111/999. Became a bit of a joke in my family to be honest by the end.

As I said, perhaps I used it wrong or not enough or am not the target demographic but it was all a bit basic, nothing you can't get from the NHS website and I'd worry the symptom checker could be damaging in some cases.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It was easy to use. I already had a diagnosis in mind which the symptom checker confirmed and has prompted me to take the next step in seeking medical advice.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The articles were easy to understand and I liked the way they were laid out in sections, easy to pick one to read when I had a spare 5 minutes

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes the website was clear and not too clunky to use

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes. As a busy mum I tend to ignore little niggles so this test prompted me to spend time thinking about them!

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes I have a health issue that I have been ignoring and the symptom checker has confimed what I was thinking so i will take its advice and seek medical attention.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It was easy to use and accurate - I used symptoms of migraines that I get quite frequently and it accurately and correctly gave that as the result.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The articles were easy to understand and well laid out - it was broken up into nice chunks which made reading easier.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes the website was clear and easy to navigate

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes, I don't always pay much attention to my health but this has made me realise I need to make some changes.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes, I used it a few times and each time it gave a useful "diagnosis" and helpful advice and next steps

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It drove me crazy. I tried several real and made up scenarios and it just escalated my twinges into nasal cancer or the need to seeks urgent immediate medical attention. I was not impressed - and basically it is just drawing on a database and I cant see how it can really replace a doctor if you were feeling ill or a google if you were not. In any case it scared the hell out of me - and the destination at the ned is the push towards private medicine which I did not appreciate. It also felt a bit like one of those scams - tell me do you have diabetes.....ah, your diagnosis is .....diabetes.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The articles are good- no nonsense stuff. I learnt things there (about dark coloured alcohol, for example), that I had not read before. I think there could be more articles and more branches off the main ones. I was reassured that they were regularly reviewed and backed by medical authors.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   It was fairly easy to navigate. It was pretty clear on all devices I used to access it.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes, fairly relevant. There was material appropriate to my age and it asked for my age. I feel like it is only just getting going.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   As above - I found it alarming and not very accurate. A mild persistent itch in my ears (probably from eczema) always turns out to be severe and terminal liver disease and I am pretty sure I don't have that....famous last words?

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Very easy to use. I was able to get confirmation of something that I've been suffering with for a while now.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? I enjoyed the articles, they were easy to read and straight to the point.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? Yes, the site was very manageable

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes, luckily mine wasn't a serious matter, but it was nice to get confirmation.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Easy to use but I felt some of the questions were repetitive and only being given one possible condition at the end was inaccurate and concerning.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   I felt that they weren't unique enough. The tips given to build a healthier lifestyle were very similar to other websites articles.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes but the symptom checker took a while.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Probably not, I prefer content based on real life stories or science not just the writer's opinion.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   'Yes' for the first check I did it gave the same diagnosis as a doctor and the advice was relevent. But 'no' for the second check I did for someone else the answer was wrong and there were no other possible conditions shown which could be quite concerning.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It was easy to use for me, I liked that it expanded on the questions I was answering instead of just following a rigid script despite what I was saying.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   I did like the articles although I found some of the information quite generic and uninspiring having had read it on other mediums before. Overall I found the articles useful and very easy to understand.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   The site was easy to navigate and the information was accessible.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   I am trying to be more active and eat more mindfully so this was very relevant to me currently. I think some of the other content would become more relevant over time.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   I used toe smart symptom checker on a previously diagnosed condition and some unrelated symptoms at separate times so my health concerns were mild as I already had them in hand. I found the information given would be easy to follow as next steps at least in my case.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

Easy to use but not very reliable in my opinion. Missed some key clues in ailments I had in mind

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

Through and informative

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Not really. I didn't take to the site at all

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Not really. I mean of course that's subjective but not specifically to any issues I was thinking of when searching

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

As above I don't think it was picking up in key clues I gave to a known issue. Was good with more generic checks

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes. Not sure if I had favourite features though! Asked a lot of questions that I wasn’t sure were relevant.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Interesting. Yes I could understand.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Not really.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Yes it was easy to use. I liked the report at the end as a guide to what might be the issue. I used different scenarios and felt a few questions were a little repetitive. I would worry people may use this to self diagnose and end up panicking.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? Excellent armies, great variety of subjects for all ages. All information was displayed well and easy to understand.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes, very easy to navigate.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   I could find things that were relevant, particularly articles on mindfulness etc. Some content was not relevant to me but I just didn't read those articles. Titles were self explanatory and made it easy to decide which articles would be of interest.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? Yes. Used for an actual symptom and it gave clear consist information about what the problem may be. Did make up some scenarios to see what happened and noticed there was an alert if medical advice should be sought immediately. This was for a potentially dangerous combination of symptoms which I wouldn't usually think would be dangerous. Very impressed.

) Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Yes, it was easy to use but I found the suggestions limited - I tried it for 3 different sets of symptoms (for ailments that could be managed at home) and invariably ended up being referred to a GP.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? The articles were generally useful, and I found myself learning new things even though I'd consider myself quite clued up health-wise.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? I struggled with the number of adverts/affiliated links. I guess if you paid for the content these would be removed?

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes, apart from the pregnancy section. I found the 'sleep' sections particularly informative.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   As mentioned before, I was referred to my GP by the Smart Checker, so there was no advice on next steps other than that.
   I found the content about sleep useful, in particular the advice about weighted blankets and supplementing with melatonin..

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Easy enough to use, straight forward. However, wildly inaccurate.
   Said I'd been feeling tired lately and more sleepy. After answering endless ambiguous questions it tells me in heart failure and need to dial 999...

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Too much information. I found myself annoyed by the sheer volume and some of it seemed like it was there nicked from elsewhere and therefore redundant. We have google already.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes, but with the added step of going to that website. Be quicker to google without the indexing of this website.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Some of it. Some of it is indexed to key words and not relevant at all. Total over load of information.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   No. Found it useless.

If this is award winning, most accurate and advanced symptom checker in the world... then I despair. It was ambiguous questions with yes or no answers. Symptoms and illness are nuanced. Individual things, sliding scales. Not one size fits all.
It was weak and badly programmed to give a blanket approach to an umbrella of symptoms.
Bordering on dangerous.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Surprisingly easy. Very intuitive and simple to use.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Easy to navigate and they weren't complicated to understand. Very helpful.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Very easy to find your way around and get answers to your questions.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Very much so.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   It did and prompted me to make an appointment with the GP for a formal diagnosis rather than a suspicion.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

The articles are interesting, I hope there are more to come. I learnt some new things to make my lifestyle better

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

Yes, the website is simple to navigate

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

Some of it was. It would be great to see more content over time

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

It's no substitute for seeking a professional medical opinion but seems sensible enough with the advice. I don't think I would ever act on much of the advice without talking to my gp if I felt it necessary

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes it was easy to use. The questions drilled down to clarify detail, which felt reassuring.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The articles were better quality than much of the free resources available on the Internet.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes, again it was better/felt more reassuring than some of the free resources I've tried on the Internet.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It was super simple to use. I went through with my symptoms and it came up with the correct diagnosis. (I knew and was having treatment!) So that’s so impressive. I will use it again if I’m worried about something. So user friendly, and quick. And I liked the detail of the questions - made it feel more clinical than a simpler questionnaire would. I’ll recommend it.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   They were good. I liked the doctor review aspect - it gives the articles more gravitas. The ones I read were well written and easy to read.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   The website is great. Quick, clear and easy to navigate. It has the typical colours I associate with womens health products! I’ll come back to it again.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   The symptom checker is great. And I’ll use it again. It 100% made the correct diagnosis on my issue (which had taken me a doctor trip to discover). So that was relevant. I’m eating more healthily at the moment and trying to work on my fitness and energy levels. And the content is supportive and motivating without being focused on the end product which is a good approach for me.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes and yes. I had been having symptoms for a few weeks and no amount of googling gave me a clear answer so I had a doctor appointment early this week. Diagnosed and on treatment. Later that day I did the symptom checker and it gave the right answer. I was very impressed. And funnily some of the symptoms the questions threw up were ones I was having but hadn’t mentioned to the doctor. I’d feel confident to use it in future.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

I liked how the answered progressed to more questions so it wasn't information overload.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

I felt I had already read a lot of thw content before so didn't find them very originL but they were easy to understand.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

Yes. Navigation was easy.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

• somewhat. I am looking for more in depth info on moles

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

• yes, it probably confirmed I have carpal tunnel syndrome without me needing to go to the drs

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

Very easy, seemed to have been asking quite a lot of detailed questions. Report was also profound and detailed. Though I do not feel that the right diagnosis was given.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

They were interesting and easy to read. I enjoyed reading them and will definitely follow some of the advice

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

Yes, website is very good and design is pleasant as well

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

Yes, very much so

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

Diagnosis was a bit strange so I did not follow the advice. But I feel that symptom checker is a good tool

Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
I thought it was really easy to use. A few of the questions seemed a bit random (like NHS 111). I like the thoroughness but I think some people will think there are too many questions.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? Hopefully more topics will get added over time. The articles are good and written by health care professionals, which is great.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Very easy to use and navigate.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes I like the information on there but I’d hope more would be added as time goes on. And maybe more in-depth articles. It’s good that there are articles written by professionals.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? I entered a made up condition and it gave me clear instruction on what to do next. I also think the advice received was accurate.

1) Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
It was very easy to use but it didn’t instil me with a huge amount of confidence about the quality of the ‘medical’ data behind it. From the outset, the question ‘What was your assigned sex at birth?’ sent alarm bells ringing. The use of the word ‘assigned’ made me think that the content had been written by a twenty-something at an agency, rather than by a true medical professional. Anyone with a science background would know that sex isn’t ‘assigned’ (a random process, like a sorting hat?) but observed, based on male/female genitalia.
I didn’t really have any favourite features – it was easy to navigate, but just led to mostly generic advice which wasn’t specifically tailored to me, and my specific presentation of the symptoms.

2) What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
The articles were easy to understand, but were very simplistic, and similar to those found in women’s magazines, weekend newspapers and other health websites and apps, as well as those from the NHS. I didn’t read or learn anything I hadn’t seen before somewhere.

3) Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
Reasonably quickly, but there was a lot of information, and scrolling to links of further information.

4) Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
The content was relevant in a generic way, but it wasn’t specific enough to me personally, my health profile and needs and my specific presentation of any symptoms. It was less helpful than other sites I currently use such as NHS online and Fitbit.

5) Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

Not really. A concern I raised about anxiety just led to the usual advice for people of all ages/ stages of life etc. A personalised response would probably have linked this to perimenopause/menopause, but this wasn’t even mentioned! It reminded me to follow up on some CBT, which is something I had already begun to explore through the NHS.

Overall the content felt too ‘light’ and non-specific to be of any genuine medical benefit. Some of the language was too colloquial e.g. talking about health ‘hacks’ – it undermined the professionalism/ sense of safety behind the site.

1. Yes, the Symptom Checker was easy to use and the feature that I liked was that it was easy to navigate and gave a quick response. 2)I thought the items in the Healthily website were basic and uninspiring and written in a very patronising tone. I didn’t learn anything that I didn’t already know or that I couldn’t have found with just a 30 second web browse. 3)Yes, the website was quick and easy to navigate. 4)There was plenty of relevant health content but nothing that I didn’t already know. 5)The Smart Symptom Checker didn’t ask enough questions to realise that there was no need to see a medical professional urgently within the next 48 hours. It could have left me worried sick especially as GP appointments are like hens teeth at the moment. I found this aspect of the site quite alarming. I definitely didn’t feel that this App/site is something which could be relied on. Sorry!

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Yes, easy to navigate, clear and concise

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? Very useful, not too detailed, definitely easy to understand.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes, no problems navigating,very easy to use.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes, very relevant to the areas I looked at.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? Yes, confirmed my concerns and easy to follow

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?

I did, thought it was clear and thorough

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?

They were informative and interesting, I will read more of these

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?

Yes, it's well designed and easy to find things

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?

Yes, useful for myself and my family

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?

I put in details of my insomnia, I was a bit surprised that it told me I should seek urgent medical help because I know that this is not something my GP would regard as a priority.