This is in the UK, but what I thought was interesting too is the fact that for years we have discouraged people from self diagnosing but it appears time are changing 
again. Patients can also write comments about hospitals and doctors, and come to think of it, that’s not a bad solution compared to what we see here with outdated information ratings with doctors and hospitals created by “for profit” sites.
The visits to the site we up 10% over last year and individuals are finding answers that avoid a trip to the doctors sometimes. Patients are also brining in printed copies of what they found on the site when visiting the doctor. Now that has to be done in moderation as you can’t bring in a book and expect the doctor to read it all during a consult, but at least with using the NHS site, the doctor knows where the information came from. We somewhat have this same concept working here, except the competition and the advertising along with marketing gets in the way sometimes and the website may not be the same as where the doctor may go for their information. BD
An NHS website which encourages people to self-diagnose saves the health service millions of pounds a year, a study suggests.
Last year there were more than 100 million visits the NHS Choices site, a 10% increase compared with 2009.
The site offers patients a quick reference guide to illnesses, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.
The NHS Choices annual report found some 19 million people logged on to the site for information on swine flu, while overall there were on average 200,000 visits a day.
The site has space for patients to write comments about hospitals and GP surgeries, and more than 40,000 have been posted so far.
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