ASA Adjudication on Nationwide Health Service

Ad

A circular stated “Nationwide Health Service - Local Health Announcement - is your health worth it? Register for FREE information about health topics - Nothing to lose, only better health to gain! Register online today www.healthresources-nhs.co.uk”. A form entitled “Receive FREE information” was attached. It stated “please tick any of the following you would like to receive information about” and listed over thirty medical conditions. Text at the bottom of the form stated “if you would like a specialist in health to contact you …” and “IF YOU WOULD LIKE A DOCTOR TO CALL YOU …” and left space for contact details. Text below the form stated “PS As a health service we are committed to helping you find a solution to your health concerns for free. There is no fee for any personal call to you made by the Doctor / Specialist.”

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, because it implied that the advertiser:

1. was in some way associated with the NHS, which could exploit the anxieties of vulnerable elderly people;

2. employed qualified medical practitioners.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Nationwide Health Service clarified that it was run by an individual who was formerly employed by a chiropractor. The advertiser said the card was designed to be distributed nationally and the intention was to forward any responses to the card or website to medical doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors, etc, who were local to the respondent and, if a referral was made, the health professional would pay a fee. The advertiser was surprised by the allegation that the ad would exploit the anxieties of elderly people.

2. The advertiser stated that she did not have any medical training and did not claim to, but wanted to help people. She said that she did not make any claims about the treatment of the conditions, but simply provided information to help people understand their condition.

Assessment

1. Upheld

We understood that the Nationwide Health Service was a referral service, which intended to put local people in touch with local medical practitioners. We noted that the advertisers name, Nationwide Health Service was very similar to National Health Service (NHS) and that the website address in the ad, www.healthresources-nhs.co.uk, contained the text "NHS" and considered this could be confusing to readers, who might understand that this was an NHS service. We did not consider that the ad made clear that it was for a private referral service, which was not linked to the NHS, and concluded that the ad was likely to mislead readers, and in particular vulnerable elderly people, into believing the service was associated with the NHS.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Principles), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

2. Upheld

We noted that the advertiser did not have any medical training. We noted that the ad stated "As a health service we are committed to helping you find a solution to your health concerns" and "All information is CONFIDENTIAL and will only be used to help you with your health" and also included testimonials about improved health. We noted that it stated "if you would like a specialist in health to contact you ..." and "IF YOU WOULD LIKE A DOCTOR TO CALL YOU ...", but did not clarify that those medical professionals would be found externally.

Because Nationwide Health Service did not employ qualified medical practitioners and the leaflet did not make clear that it was a referral service which put people in touch with external health professionals, we concluded it was misleading on that point.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Principles), 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We advised them to seek Copy Advice in future.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)