Patients use web for second opinion

Three-quarters of people use the internet to double-check advice given by their family doctors, a poll suggests.

Seventy-three per cent of people admit going online to verify the information their GP has given them, the survey found.

The poll, conducted on 2,000 adults from across the UK, found that many are performing self-diagnosis online as an alternative to seeing a general practitioner.

Scouring the web for medical information is more popular with young adults, according to the poll conducted by PR consultancy firm 3 Monkeys.

Of the 130 18- to 24-year-olds questioned, 62% said they would turn to the internet as their first port of call if they felt unwell.

But the majority of people over the age of 45 (70%) said they would seek advice from health professionals when feeling under the weather.

Dr Martin Godfrey, managing director at 3 Monkeys Health and Wellness, said: ” Consumers want to know more – and through the proliferation of mediums with which they can do so, expectations have changed.

“If the healthcare industry doesn’t open itself up for change, self-diagnosis will continue to grow as a nationwide problem, leading to misdiagnosis and ‘cyberchondria’, the online hypochondria for the worried well.”

Patients use web for second opinion