The Lowdown’s Content & Editorial Policy
Who we are
The Lowdown is a women’s health research and content platform with an engaged community of website users and social media followers. Behind The Lowdown is a team of women’s health, tech and medical experts. You can read more about our founder and team here. We are motivated by our mission to transform healthcare for women and people assigned female at birth. The Lowdown is self-funded by our founder and institutional venture capital investors like Entrepreneur First, Calm/Storm VC, Nina Capital and SpeedInvest.
What we do
We generate community-driven data and medically reviewed content with a mission to create a world-class resource to help women make better informed health decisions. We also work with partners like the NHS, academic researchers, charities, consumer companies and life sciences clients, including contract research organisations and pharmaceutical companies, to conduct insights and market research on what women really want when it comes to their health. We are a member of the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association and follow their guidelines when conducting market research. The Lowdown is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and adheres strictly to GDPR legislation.
Reviews and experiences
The Lowdown website collects product reviews and personal experiences from individuals which are freely left by visitors to the website from around the world. These are subjective, not gathered as part of a regulated scientific study, and people’s identities, diagnoses and prescriptions have not been verified. With reference to medication reviews, whilst these may be a true reflection of the user’s experience, the data may not be representative of all medication users worldwide. We will clearly highlight where reviews or experiences are shared from The Lowdown’s proprietary data set, either in review format or as aggregate data.
The content we create
The Lowdown is committed to excellent standards in the provision of our content including our website pages, health hub, social media and related apps, tools and services. We aim to provide visitors to The Lowdown with access to the real world data from reviews and experiences alongside trustworthy content that is medically reviewed, accurate, balanced, transparent and clearly presented.
We aim to produce new content in line with the NHS content guide Standard for creating health content and review our existing content in line with the NHS Health – NHS digital service manual standards. All content which contains medically relevant information is reviewed by one of our in-house medical team for accuracy and balance and to ensure it reflects the current evidence base, recognised UK guidelines and/or best clinical practice. However, The Lowdown should be used for informational purposes only and should not substitute seeking personalised medical advice from an appropriately qualified medical professional.
The contraceptive (and other drug) information presented on our website is taken from the manufacturer’s Patient Information Leaflets and reliable UK-based sources of medical information, such as the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health and the NHS. We review this information regularly to ensure it’s up to date. We include links to credible scientific studies as evidence of research to support medical claims where applicable.
The majority of The Lowdown’s health hub content is authored and edited by our team of in-house and contracted freelance writers and editors. Their biographies are featured alongside each article. Guest writers who freely submit or are commissioned to produce content for The Lowdown will also agree to have a short biography published alongside their article. This should include any potential conflicts of interest. Content produced by guest writers will also be subject to our content and editorial processes as detailed here, prior to consideration for publication. The Lowdown’s posts, stories and tweets are researched, written and designed by our team of in-house writers and designers, and if they contain any medical information, are reviewed by our in-house medical team.
Third party sites
To ensure transparency and up-to-date information in our content we will endeavour to reference and, if appropriate, include hyperlinks to sources of medical information. We have no control over, and therefore cannot assume responsibility for, the content or general practices of any of these third-party sites and/or services. The display of any hyperlink and reference to any third-party website does not mean that we endorse that third-party’s website, products or services. Use of a third party site may be governed by the terms and conditions of that third party site. We use affiliate links across our website and heath hub articles and may earn a small commission from the links you click.
How we keep our content updated
As experts in women’s health information we update the website and health hub content as best clinical practice and guidelines change. We aim to review published blogs and articles routinely every three years. We do not retrospectively edit social media content to bring it up to date as this is not standard practice but we will share changes in practice and guidance on our social media channels.
Sponsored content
Occasionally we will produce and publish sponsored content on our site in agreement with a third party. This is also subject to the terms in this content policy.
Where we receive funding or educational grants from pharmaceutical companies, we work and produce content in line with The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Code of Practice and the Proprietary Association of Great Britain Medicines Advertising Codes Consumer Code.
Where you see the label ‘Sponsored content’ it means The Lowdown has received funding or a grant to support production and publication of this content but The Lowdown has independently written and produced the content. Other than the checking of factual accuracy, The Lowdown retains complete editorial control and sign off. We will make the third party sponsor and their involvement in the funding, writing or reviewing of content clear in a written declaration so that readers of sponsored content are aware of it at the outset.
Frequency of routine review of sponsored content by The Lowdown team and the third party and the length of time the content remains live on The Lowdown website is determined on an individual case basis and subject to contract with the third party sponsor.
A note on language
We’re proud to be a groundbreaking women’s health platform, and while we use the word woman across our site, we support and recognise people assigned female at birth who do not identify as female. We are committed to creating a more inclusive health resource for women, trans men and non-binary folk and increasing the diversity of our review data set.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or concerns regarding our content please email melanie@thelowdown.com.
[ Last updated 05/09/24 ]