How we research, write and audit our guides

Sources we trust

Every clinical, legal, or process claim in a guide is anchored to a primary UK source — not a third-party summary, blog or AI output. We rank sources in this order:

1. Legislation and statutory instruments (e.g. NHS Act 2006, Equality Act 2010, SI 2009/309 — the NHS complaints regulations, UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018).
2. NHS guidelines, technology appraisals, quality standards and CKS topics (e.g. NG87 adult ADHD, CG142 adult autism, NG23 menopause, NG243 adrenal insufficiency, NG188 long COVID, NG206 ME/CFS, NG193 chronic pain, NG73 endometriosis, TA682, CG150).
3. NHS England operational documents (e.g. the NHS Standard Contract 2026/27 Service Conditions, NHS Patient Choice Guidance and its 19 December 2023 enforcement annex, the 18-week RTT standard, the Choice Framework).
4. Regulators and ombudsmen — GMC Good Medical Practice, CQC, PHSO.
5. Royal Colleges and peer-reviewed clinical criteria (e.g. ACR 2016 fibromyalgia criteria, IHS ICHD-3).
6. Named UK patient charities for prevalence and lived-experience figures, with the source named in-line (e.g. Endometriosis UK on diagnostic delay).

For contested conditions (CIRS, MCAS, hEDS/HSD, long COVID), we explicitly mark where NHS recognition is partial, regional, or still developing. We do not pretend a consensus exists where it doesn't.

How we write a guide

1. Draft from primary sources, citing the specific NHS guidelines guideline section or statutory instrument regulation in-line.
2. Strip universal quantifiers ("all GPs", "every trust", "always") unless the source actually says so. NHS practice varies by ICB, trust and clinician.
3. Distinguish England from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Most guides are England-specific by default and say so.
4. Use plain English. If a clinical or legal term is unavoidable, define it in the glossary on the same page.

How we audit

Every guide is run through an automated source-checking pipeline that extracts each factual claim and verifies it against the primary source it cites. Claims are graded:

• Supported — the cited source says exactly that.
• Partial — the source supports a narrower or more qualified version. We tighten the wording.
• Unsupported — the source does not say that, or the citation is wrong. We rewrite or remove the claim.

The most recent full audit covered every guide on this site andsrc/lib/conditions.tson 3 June 2026, including the four sources added for the Right-to-Choose (ADHD / Autism) pathway: NHS Patient Choice Guidance (Dec 2023), its enforcement annex, the NHS Standard Contract 2026/27 Service Conditions, and NICE NG87 + CG142. Each guide page now shows its individual "sources re-audited" date alongside its last-updated date.

What we are not

• We are not a medical service. Nothing on Finally Seen is a diagnosis or a substitute for clinical advice.
• We are not lawyers. Where we describe legal rights (e.g. the Equality Act, the NHS complaints regulations, UK GDPR), we point to the statute and recommend specialist advice for any actual claim.
• We are not affiliated with the NHS, the GMC, or any Royal College.

Found a mistake?

Email hi@finallyseen.org.uk with the page URL, the sentence you think is wrong, and the source you think we should cite instead. We fix verified inaccuracies within 48 hours and credit the person who flagged them (with their permission) on the guide's next-audited line.

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