Personal health
manager
Explore Personal Health ManagerFind out how Personal Health Manager can help you and your family.
Your questions
- What is Personal Health Manager?
- Who developed Personal Health Manager?
- Is the information I enter safe?
- Can I trust Norwich Union to keep my data secure and my records confidential?
- What computer specification do I need to use Personal Health Manager?
- Why am I having trouble viewing the site?
- Do I need an email address to use Personal Health Manager?
- It's all confidential
- Will Norwich Union use my personal data for insurance purposes?
- I am having problems registering and / or finding my way around the site. Who should I speak to?
- I have lost my access code. How do I get a new one?
Our answers
1. What is Personal Health Manager?
An interactive web and telephone based service to help our customers and their families better manage and take control of their health.
The service comprises the following components:
- Symptom Assessment - An interactive symptom assessment, much like a consultation with a real doctor. It leads you through a detailed problem-focused history, recommending whether and when to consult a doctor, and home treatments if appropriate.
- Health Planner - This service focuses on helping you look after your health now and into the future. It leads you through personal health and lifestyle assessments, quantifies your health risks and provides personal recommendations to help you look after your health. Personal Health Manager even helps you develop your own plan on-line and provides a reminder service to help you stick to it.
- Medical Information - This component consists of extensive online information. Use the Medical Encyclopaedia to learn about medical conditions and illnesses, and the Stress Free Living Guide to understand more about stress, its effects and how to cope with these. You can also access details on Children's Mental Health Services in your area, as well as information on hospital facilities specifically for children.
There's also a section that provides the average waiting times for common procedures in the majority of English and Scottish NHS Trusts and waiting times at a specialty level for Welsh NHS Trusts. In addition, the Guide to Services for a Healthy Mind section puts you and your family in touch with services for mild and moderate mental health problems in your local area. - Talk to the Experts - The service is underpinned by our 24 hour GP Helpline which is integrated into the Personal Health Manager service through both the Symptom Assessment and Health Planner sections, allowing you to follow up assessments with a real doctor without having to repeat the information already provided. Alternatively, speak to experienced Counsellors who can provide you with advice and information on how to overcome and manage stress.
2. Who developed Personal Health Manager?
The Symptom Assessments and Health Planner functions have been written by the medical staff of our service providers, Expert-24 Limited, and reviewed by an independent UK Expert Medical Review Panel.
The independent Expert Medical Review Panel consists of GPs and specialists who have reviewed the site's content. The panel is chaired by Professor John Henry, Professor of Accident and Emergency Medicine at Imperial College, St Mary's Hospital London.
Dr John Fletcher has led the research and statistical modelling behind the Health Planner Risk Assessments. Dr. Fletcher is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Department of Public Health and an Associate Editor for the British Medical Journal. He holds a Masters degree in Public Health Quantitative Methods and is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
The credentials of the Expert Medical Review Panel are all available on the Personal Health Manager site, by clicking on the Medical Policy link.
The Medical Encyclopaedia content is sourced from the most recent edition of the Complete Family Health Guide by Dorling Kindersley which itself has stringent quality assurance standards.
3. Is the information I enter safe?
We employ the following measures to protect the security of your information:
- We require the use of Usernames and Passwords in respect of each family member using Personal Health Manager in his or her own right.
- We use firewalls to protect information held on our servers
- We also encrypt the personal information we send and receive from you, by means of a 128 bit Secure Socket Layer encryption.
- We make every effort to protect the security of your personal health information, but given the nature of the Internet there is always a small risk that an unauthorised person will gain access to Personal Health Manager and the information held within it.
- Further details are given in our onsite Privacy Policy.
4. Can I trust Norwich Union to keep my data secure and my records confidential?
We will ensure that all data you provide is protected by appropriate encryption techniques whilst in transit and appropriate technical infrastructure once it is held.
Norwich Union Healthcare Limited, Norwich Union Insurance Limited and Norwich Union Life & Pensions Limited are the data controllers of your personal information under the Data Protection Act 1998.
We will use your personal information for the purposes of registration, service provision, record retention and investigation of any complaints.
We promise that we will not use your information to inform an underwriting, claims liability or other insurance decision. Equally, we promise that we will never use the personal information gathered through Personal Health Manager for marketing purposes.
5. What computer specification do I need to use Personal Health Manager?
This website has been designed to look good on a wide range of screen resolutions. Generally a higher screen resolution (1024 by 768 and above) will provide a better experience. The system can be used comfortably on resolution as low as 800 by 600.
The system has been designed to run on Internet Explorer 5.0 and above (the site has been optimised for version 5.5) or AOL 7.0 or above. Personal Health Manager is also designed for use on Macintosh computers running Microsoft IE 5.0 and above.
You will also need Macromedia's Flash 6 (MX) which you can obtain for free from Macromedia. The download takes a very short period of time.
6. Why am I having trouble viewing the site?
This website has been designed to look good on a wide range of screen resolutions. Generally a higher screen resolution (1024 by 768 and above) will provide a better experience. The system can be used comfortably on resolution as low as 600 by 800.
It is possible you are using a version 4.0 or below browser or you are using an unsupported browser.
The original site build was optimised for IEv5.5. However, as stated on the site, users with IEv5.0 and above, Netscape/Mozilla 6.0 and above, can successfully use the site. The site can generally be viewed using other browsers - Opera, Safari, AOL, however, certain functionality, texts display, images etc may appear different, and certain local browser settings can also affect the way the site behaves. Those MAC users with Mozilla v6 can also access the site. If your browser is not among these, please visit Microsoft or Netscape for a free upgrade.
If you are using a compatible browser and still cannot see the Health Planner conclusion screen then you may need to upgrade your Macromedia Flash plug-in.
7. Do I need an email address to use Personal Health Manager?
Each user of Personal Health Manager needs to enter an email address. This is important because it is used to send people their Usernames or Password reminders in case they are forgotten. It is also used if you want to receive weekly emails to help you achieve your Personal Health Improvement Plans and to receive new or topical information associated with Personal Health Manager.
If you do not have an external email address and one is not available from your current Internet Service Provider (ISP), you could consider registering with one of the many services which provide email accounts - many of which are free to use. The web address for one of these providers is listed below for you to consider:
- MSN / Hotmail - www.hotmail.co.uk
Family members, including children from the age of 13 with their parents' consent, can password protect their own health information. Your personal data is private and will not be used by Norwich Union Healthcare to affect any decision made by us in connection with any claims, nor will it affect the premiums.
9. Will Norwich Union use my personal data for insurance purposes?
No. We promise never to use your personal data to inform any insurance decision.
10. I am having problems registering and / or finding my way around the site. Who should I speak to?
We have trained 'super-users' who may be able to help you with general information on Personal Health Manager, including how to navigate the site. Please call 0800 158 3333 if you need help.
11. I have lost my access code. How do I get a new one?
Your access code was referenced on your policy letter. If you cannot find your access code, please contact 0800 158 3333. They will be able to provide you with a new access code.
Further Details
The GP and Stress Counselling Helplines are not available as part of any trial. Personal Health Manager is strictly for use in and by residents of the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man only. Calls may be monitored and/or recorded
