In order to comply with new legislation the minimum age is now 18 years
The A+LUK web community is part of HealthUnlocked (HU), a network of hundreds of condition and wellness communities from organisations you know and trust. You have agreed to HU’s terms of use when you registered. This is a safe and supportive community, and these are our guidelines. Some of HU conditions of use are repeated here. The site is moderated by A+LUK Helpline Team and HU. The moderators reserve the right to refuse membership to the Lung Conditions Community Forum.
Health information
Information posted on the site can support, but not replace, the relationship between you and your health care professionals (HCP). You can use information from the site to inform your discussions and exploration of treatment options with HCP’s. Always consult a HCP about changes to treatment or medication.
Community atmosphere
Our forum is a supportive, community for people affected by a lung condition and for those wanting to find out more about their lung health. Members should be respectful, honest and participate in supporting and learning from one another. You have a choice to join or to leave the community. The site isn’t a place to name, shame, or post negative feedback. We have a zero tolerance approach to bad language, insults, abusive or critical messages. Repeat breaches will result in the person responsible having their account suspended/permanently restricted. If you don’t like the way a member responds to you, ignore/report. No member of the moderator team should be subjected to verbal or personal abuse. Note that all IP addresses are logged.
Posting content
Content posted by individual members does not represent the views of A+LUK or of HU. Our online community is read by many different people. Your messages should be appropriate for anyone to read. When you post content, you agree to post information that is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. You agree to post information that is drawn from your personal experience. Be sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others – something that you consider acceptable may be offensive to others. Content posted on this community can be read, used, reproduced and cited by other members of the site. You have the option to delete content you have posted. If you post third party information you are asked to provide references and links. Posts with no such supporting evidence will be deleted.
Decisions made by the moderator are final. Moderators may but not always contact a member to inform them their post has been moderated or removed and will not enter into discussions with members about action taken or not taken. Neither A+LUK nor HU is responsible for any injury or offence that a member may draw from another member's content.
Content of posts
All posts should be on topic. Comments or discussions that aren’t may be deleted. Members who persistently break this rule will have their account restricted/suspended. Posts promoting or advertising social media groups will be removed. Posts or discussions about issues not directly linked to living with a lung condition should take place in the chat section. All posts in categories other than the chat and jokes/humour categories should have direct relevance to living with a lung condition. Repeat posts on the same issue made by the same member will be deleted. Moderators may tidy each category section in the community pages and remove old posts/lock them to future replies. Moderators will delete any content that is, or may be construed as, racist, homophobic, sexist, discriminatory or disrespectful.
A+LUK is informed by UK Government guideline advice, any misinformation posted regarding medical treatment including the use of vaccinations will be removed.
High- risk or self harm content
The Health Unlocked Forum is an incredibly supportive and helpful environment. However, advice given to members in crisis can be dangerous, no matter how well intentioned. Please report any such content as it helps us to respond in a timely manner. These posts will be removed and the member contacted to offer support.
User -names
Usernames should be respectful of the views of others. Moderators will delete usernames that are, or may be construed as, racist, homophobic, sexist, discriminatory or disrespectful. Usernames should be made up of letters or letters and numbers. Usernames shouldn’t be the name of a business, organisation or a registered product name. Usernames mustn’t imply medical qualifications or experience. User profiles should indicate the user’s country of residence to ensure that any advice provided is relevant.
Buying and selling
Buying and selling pre-owned medical equipment is complicated for reasons including verifying the source, confirming the equipment’s condition, terms of sale, guarantees, lack of protection for both buyer and seller, and reduction of device lifespan. Moderators will always delete posts offering to buy or sell equipment/medical devices to ensure the safety of forum members.
Religious Posts
We are a multicultural, multifaith community. Prayers and quotes from religious books/writings will be removed.
Political Posts
We don’t allow political posts or comments on the forum. These will be removed.
Information about new treatments, complementary or alternative therapies or research trials
Treatment or therapy discussed must be legal in the UK. Discussion about user’s experiences, knowledge and opinion about these areas is appropriate. Remember, no one should change treatment without first consulting their health care professional.
Requests for research projects/case studies/patient surveys
All requests for patient case studies, research projects, petitions or promotion of health information events need to be emailed to helpline@asthmaandlung.org.uk. A+LUK will respond to confirm if the request can be posted or not. Requests that are posted onto the forum without A+LUK’s consent will be removed.
Fundraising posts
Posts regarding fundraising events for the A+LUK are allowed on the forum and should be posted within the ‘A+LUK Fundraising’ sub-topic. Fundraising posts for other charities or organisations will be deleted.
Moderating content
Content that members post on this forum is moderated by A+LUK and HU. Moderation helps maintain positive and open discussion. Moderators may edit or delete any post. Any comments/posts deleted by the moderators must not be re-posted or discussed in another post. Content should never be abusive, malicious or deliberately misleading. Posts may be edited/deleted even when not negative, abusive, malicious or deliberately misleading. This is to ensure the community is supportive and responsive to the majority. If you consider someone else is breaching guidelines please report it via the report abuse option. All feedback reports are read by moderators and it is their judgement on what action to take. Decisions made by the moderator are final. Moderators may but not always contact a member to inform them their contribution has been moderated but will not enter into discussions with members about action taken or not taken. Neither A+LUK nor HU is responsible for any injury or offence that a member may draw from another member's content.
Private messaging
HU can access all messages sent on the platform and may do so if it considers it important to the safe running of the site for all members. Content of private messages between members should not be shared or reproduced on the forum. If you have concerns about the content of a private message that you have received, you should contact a moderator.
International Members
All the advice and support provided by A+LUK is based only on UK guidelines.
The treatment of lung conditions varies in other countries and so we are unable to directly respond to those queries and advise you speak to a health care provider where you live. General information can be found on our website - asthmaandlung.org.uk/
Online Safety
Please don’t post personal contact information on the site. You may choose to do so in the messages module. Members should have general regard to their online safety. Information on online security is widely available e.g. getsafeonline.org/
In this community, there may be discussions of health-related issues and sharing of personal information.
Please note that the A +LUK Community is an open site, meaning that any posts are searchable by internet search engines and can be shared via social media platforms. The default setting of posts allows them to be visible to individuals who are not members of the community. If you would rather your content was not searchable, you can change the visibility of your post by selecting "Only community members" before clicking submit. This will result in only the post title and first line of text being visible to those who are not members of the community. However, doing this will limit the number of people who will find and benefit from the information you have shared. We suggest members leave posts open for everyone to find if they are comfortable doing so to ensure more people find communities and benefit from the wealth of information on HealthUnlocked.
Any questions or concerns you can contact A+LUK or HU admin -
helpline@asthma@lung.org.uk
support@healthunlocked.com
Last updated 5/8/2024
