Clinical Knowledge Summaries – The new name for NHS Prodigy

Prodigy is the name given to the NHS database of illnesses, and ailments for first-contact care. I have seen it used by NHS nurses working in NHS walk-in centres and similar. The web site is www.prodigy.nhs.uk .
It is now called Clinical Knowledge Summaries and appears to be turning it into a even more powerful database of all clinical knowledge.

The easiest way to use it, if you are looking about a specific illness, or disease etc, is to enter that into the search bar and look at the documents it finds. Although targeted at healthcare professionals most of the documents are clearly written and most should be able to understand and follow them without any specific training. Obviously the diagnosis and medication still needs to be left to the professionals, but it’s a good way to get some additional information after you’ve seen the appropriate medical staff.

For medical advise and self help guides you should really start with the NHS home page www.nhs.uk, calling NHS direct on 0845 46 47, or via another official route, but the clinical knowledge summaries are a useful place to look afterwards.