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?

• it was easy to use however some of the questions were not relevant. The diagnosis i had in mind was confirmed by the app.

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 easy to search for.

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

Yes the website was easy and simple to use.

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?

This app does have potential to be a useful tool but it can't be a one size fits all diagnosis. We all have different histories and current lifestyle choices and hereditary issues. It is good for first point of understanding but not essentially you will need to see a medical doctor.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? I think the idea of having a way of getting information and control is good. My GP is really struggling to deal with patients at the moment but this helps.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? Articles were good. Aimed at a wide readership and clear language

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

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.

Yes. Struggling with menopause symptoms and it was reassuring to know I am doing the right things

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes, it was straightforward. It was good that the initial questions checked the system had understood the symptoms correctly.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   I thought they were a bit lengthy/ overwritten, however the information was clear and easy to understand.

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

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Mostly - I assume more content may be added as one thing I searched for - low folate or low folic acid (I tried both!) returned no results.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes, the range of possible diagnoses was well set out and next steps were clearly displayed.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? I liked this and found it useful.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? I like the nutrition section but would like to have seen more vegetarian focused things.

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? Generally.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? It was ok. It recognised one of my sets of symptoms (premenstrual) the other not so much.

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. It felt simple to get to the point of what to do, and asked lots of relevant questions to work out what was the issue. What I wasn’t too keen on was I put in symptoms for PMS, and it suggested I had covid 🤷‍♀️

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

Yes they were okay, some very interesting, some basic. Useful info and easy to understand

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

Yes, the front page felt a bit much, but when I started looking round more it was easy

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

To an extent

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

Well, I put in symptoms for PMS, and it was suggested I had covid. So it was wrong (I was using an issue I have so I knew what the prognosis should be)

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes very easy to use-liked the fact that it was easy to navigate

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Useful-clear and lots of information that was easy to follow

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

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 was very useful- I felt very confident about what to do next

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

Yes it was very easy to use and I liked how it went into far more detail about particular things. I liked the fact it was a clean and uncomplicated process to type in your symptoms and then follow the suggestions. Etc.

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 easy to understand. However I felt that none of the articles contained any new information. It was all full of suggestions and things that to me are common knowledge.

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

Yes, this was very easy to do. The website has a good, easy to follow layout.

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

Some of it was. However, I was disappointed to see that alot of what I looked at didn't take into account post partum circumstances and life with a very young baby (e.g the sleep article!) So therefore was not particularly relevant.

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

No. I looked up previous symptoms to test the checker and found it gave accurate advice which I would feel confident with. I did look up symptoms which I believe are as a result of giving birth and it was unable to give me any decent information around that.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes - don’t think it needed features as search - it was a well designed questionnaire that came up with helpful suggestions

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Yes - easy to understand without being patronising

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes - well laid out and the main headings were relevant to what I wanted.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes - I’m mid 40s and found relevant info.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Yes - entered symptoms that are already under investigation but it gave some helpful suggestions.

Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Yes I found it very easy to use. I liked how it gave me a quick answer.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? I liked the articles and found they were simple to understand but informative however probably it didn’t really provide any different information than any other website found on a google search.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? Yes the website was simple to use and I did find what I was looking for easily and quickly

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes I would say so though it was a bit too generic

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 confirmed what I already thought about the current health issues I am experiencing however it did just say to speak to the GP about most issues so I felt like that was a bit of a waste of time

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Reasonably straightforward, albeit frustrating in that in certain scenarios, obvious questions did not seem to be asked, potentially leading to outcomes that were actually unlikely.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? They seemed varied and had different degrees of usefulness, with some easier to understand than others. Some were far too wordy. Needed to jump between different sections more than expected. Eg...going to Nutrition topic for example, and attempting to follow advice/tips for 10 days....I expected same to be more like a calendar format, with appropriate and progressive advice/tips moving through from day one to ten. Instead, it was a hotch-potch of dip in and out articles.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? Navigation was fine, once you got past all the distracting stuff on pages. Most pages were too wordy and had too much superfluous stuff on them that distracted from the info being provided.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? As with any site of this nature, some was whilst a lot wasn't.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? With the scenarios I tested, it did more to give me increased concerns rather than confidence, which is not ideal. The lack of obvious questions in some situations, seemed to lead to unexpected and possibly irrelevant advice.

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

It was quick and easy to use and came up with some sensible and accurate suggestions for the symptoms we inputted.

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

Very easy to understand. Perhaps some things were obvious / overly simplistic but there was huge range of subject matter covered.

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?

I think this is the best feature of the site. Yes it addressed some health concerns and gave good advice.

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

Easy to navigate. Clear plain English so easy to follow not blinded by science.

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

Good informative articles, easy to follow but similar to other website information.

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

Yes, easy to use and navigate. Search terms where comprehensive.

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

Some of it. Very interesting diverticulitis information but couldn't much about a few other things I was looking for.

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 past condition and it gave correct and clear information on what to do next so it definitely has its uses.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes I thought it was very easy to use. I particularly liked that you typed your own first symptom in rather than having to choose from a limited list that may not actually fit your symptoms

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Easy to understand information with links at the bottom to similar articles. I concentrated on physical activity habit and liked the article with ideas of easy at home work outs including a link to the NHS for a complete home workout and also a ‘pick n mix’ list of exercises to create your own workout based on your own goals

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   Yes I found it easy to find my way around the website and find the information I wanted

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Having had my first child last year I found a lot of the content relevant to me and either issues I’ve had or things I’ve worried about.

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 it for 2 symptoms. One is lower back pain which I’ve had for years and is wear and tear from work and I found it asked lots of comprehensive questions including looking for red flag symptoms with back pain which I thought was very good.
   The other symptoms was chest tightness and wheeze which it suggested was Asthma which has been my suspicion as my mum developed adult onset asthma at around my age too. Again I found the selection of questions it went through very comprehensive. I’m an advanced nurse practitioner in Cardiology so I was pleased it went through the questions to rule the possibility of anything acute cardiac or respiratory. Overall I think it’s a very good symptoms checker

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

Well it was easy to use in the sense that the instructions were straightforward to follow, but the results were rubbish. I put in various permutations of ‘sore itchy belly button’ which it didn’t recognise at all and kept trying to direct me to abdominal or pelvic pain. Then I tried ‘cough’ and just ended up with a paragraph telling me the definition of a cough. I tried ‘neck pain’ and did end up with a report for that but it said it could be arthritis when I know it’s just down to bad posture. Not impressed at all.

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

Fine, useful and clear to understand, but nothing I haven’t read elsewhere.

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

Yes, it’s easy to navigate.

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

Yes, I found the articles on mindfulness and coping with stress useful.

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

See comments for question 1 - no it did not and no I do not!

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

I mean it was easy to use in the fact that you just input your sex, age and symptoms and press go but the results were about prostate enlargement which apparently affects older men when I am female early 30s?

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

It was easy to understand but the articles were quite long and boring, nothing I couldn't find out myself from a quick google search

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

I wouldn't say I did much navigating since the links were already given to me in the email but yes all the articles were categorised for easy access

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

They were relevant but I didn't really learn anything new as there is already a lot of free articles out there which I've read before after doing google searches. Wouldn't automatically head to Heathily first

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 maybe it's because I'm lucky to be quite healthy in general? The only health concern I could think of was a UTI which was not a result on the symptom checker.. the pregnancy related articles did not provide me with any new information I did not already know about

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes, I found it very easy to use. I like that it wasn't just yes or no answers

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

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   It was very quick and easy to use, and I found the information very easily.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes, there was lots of information that I used to try and help with any health concerns I or my son 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, I put in the symptoms I had about a temperature and it suggested I may have Coronavirus. I took a lateral flow test and first it came back negative and then a few days late it came up positive.

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

I found the questions were thorough and very similar to the NHS symptom checker. There were a few bugs eg. I was asked the same question twice.

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

The articles were fairly standard with information that could easily be found elsewhere. I did find that I was led on to other related articles, and spent quite a bit of time browsing the website.

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

Yes, as I said above, there were plenty of links to other articles that I might want to read.

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?

I really liked that the symptom checker gave a suggestion of a diagnosis. I found the information useful and followed up my concerns with my own GP. I do think that people with health anxiety may fixate on the 'diagnosis' rather than the advice given.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   I found it easy to use, and the questions were easy to understand. I liked that initially you could type your symptoms rather than just picking from a list

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   The information was clear but was a bit generic. It felt like I could have read it on any other site.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   It was easy to use and the information seemed to be laid out logically.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Not really. I read the sleep articles, and there were several recommending melatonin, and then there was a very small disclaimer saying it's prescription only in the UK - but this only appeared after the article had said how much to take and for how long. It was very misleading because it made the articles pointless.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   It was awful. It told me I'd got lung cancer when I was looking up an occasional cough. I went through it again thinking I'd got something wrong, but got the same result. I feel the questions asked didn't really lead to this answer, and if they're going to give that as a diagnosis they should be really sure so as not to scare people.

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

I thought it was good and had good potential right up until it said I had systemic sclerosis for my symptoms of nausea and palpitations. I think it's got potential it needs more data and a leaning towards minor and more common ailments. 'If you see hoofprints think horses not zebras'

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

I thought the articles were excellent and were sensible and like an extra NHS resource. Really good to have sound UK based health writing online.

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

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes I enjoyed the low mood and self care articles.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   It didn't really help with my family's particular symptoms. I would have liked this week to read about cotton from cotton bud stuck in ear and couldn't find anything particularly about this. Also I don't think I have systemic sclerosis so it didn't help me. I really like the way it worked though. I think they should enter in data from a real GP surgery/ 111 calls for a few wks and check accuracy of outcomes and advice.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   -Yes, very easy. I like that once you’d touched on a particular area of concern it narrowed down with clear questioning.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   -I actually really enjoyed all of the articles I read and found them really clear and informative. I felt that I was actually taking information away as opposed to just reading.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   -Yes, extremely. It’s a very user friendly site.

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   -There was such a lot of different information on there that I found that quite a lot of it was relevant.

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 actually have an appointment with the GP next week for something that has been bothering me for a while that I have been brushing off.
   I used the symptom checker and the report I received at the end of that was really reassuring, stated what the problem potentially is and encouraged me to see a GP within 2 weeks.
   The questions asked were so clear and thorough that I feel confident that I am not likely to be wasting the GP’s time.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Was easy to use but some of the questions seemed out of place

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

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

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Yes but its no different to other information ive looked at on other websites

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   I dont think i would trust this, good concept though

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   Yes, I found it pretty easy to use- Questions were easy to follow. Pretty foolproof I think.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   I thought there were lots of articles which were interested. As a dentist I had a read of the dental health ones and they were well written and informative in an accessible style. I thought some of the other articles were a little simple, for example about running- but good for a beginner/ someone contemplating taking up running maybe.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly?
   It was very quick and easy to find any information. .

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs?
   Not overly at this present time but I'm sure I would have found it really useful when pregnant/ trying to conceive etc.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next?
   Not sure about this one, I put my husband's current issue of occasional excessive burping in and the only two possible diagnoses it came up with were stomach cancer and oesophageal cancer which is obviously quite alarming!! I'm sure there are several other things which could be causing this but these were not mentioned at all.
   I also put in symptoms of some patches of psoarisis I suffer from and this was not given as a possible diagnosis in my report either so I probably don't feel overly confident in the smart checker.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Yes, it was very simple to navigate and understand. After entering the main symptom it picked the correct direction for next questions.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? Lots of information on a wide range and further links within the articles was helpful. The information was well written but a bit basic and I felt a bit patronising in some areas: on maintaining a healthy weigh during menopause the info was to eat regular meals and don't skip breakfast.

3. Were you able to navigate the website easily and find the information you wanted quickly? Yes, the website was easy to navigate and plenty of links for further reading

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes, the menopause section was useful to read.

5. Did the content and Smart Symptom Checker address any health concerns you had? Did you feel confident about what to do next? I don't currently have any symptoms so used previously experienced symptoms. It didn't diagnose gallstones I'd had previously but did advise I see a GP. I'm not sure I would use this over the NHS symptom checker as I don't think it was detailed enough for me to have a great level of confidence in it. Maybe I would feel differently if I was experiencing symptoms at the time of testing and could see myself using this alongside other websites.

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
   It was easy to use, liked quick fire questions

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand?
   Great range of info that is understandanable.

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? I put some minor symptoms in related to a recent diagnosis and was told to make an appointment with my doctor immediately. No attempt at diagnosis very alarmist for mild eczema!

1. Did you find the Healthily Smart Symptom checker easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features? Very easy to use, gave me simple advice. Recommends dr review frequently.

2. What did you think of the articles on the Healthily website? Was the information useful and easy to understand? they were easy to read and straight to the point, sometimes a bit too basic. I would have liked more detail.

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

4. Was the health content relevant to you and your needs? Yes, most things covered

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

Not sure why you would pay for this as freely accessible information online from nhs sites - seemed aimed at a private market? Possibly not Uk.