Dr Morton's - How it works
Dr Morton's – the medical helpline is a telephone and web-based business providing medical advice to customers.
Dr Morton's
the medical helpline©

How it works

1. The role of Dr Morton's and the Doctors
  • 1.1. Dr Morton's acts as an agent for doctors ("Doctors" or "Doctor") who provide medical advice. The Doctors are self employed on a contract basis to provide Services to Customers in just the same way that an NHS general practitioner surgery or an NHS out of hours service would engage the services of its own doctors. Each of these Doctors is registered independently with the General Medical Council ("GMC") to provide medical advice. The purpose of the GMC is to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine. Each Doctor referred by Dr Morton's to a Customer has the same traditional duty of care towards a patient or Customer common throughout the UK medical profession and the NHS. Each Doctor is responsible for their own medical indemnity insurance. The names of the Doctors, their qualifications and GMC registration details are available on Dr Morton's Website.
2. "Services"
  • 2.1. The role of Dr Morton's in providing a "Service" or "Services" is to refer Customers to appropriately qualified Doctors who are each registered with the General Medical Council.
  • 2.2. The role of the Doctors in providing a "Service" or "Services", is the provision of medical advice by Telephone and Email which is given:
    • only to registered Customers referred by Dr Morton's;
    • on the basis of information provided by the Customer either in answer to questions on the Website or by Telephone; and
    • in the event that a Doctor determines, based solely upon that Doctor's medical assessment, that a prescription of medicine is appropriate to the Customer's circumstances, the Doctor may issue a prescription.
  • 2.3. The Doctor retains absolute discretion and may decline to give advice, or to prescribe if they are in any way unsure of the Customers circumstances, or if the medical or other information provided leads the Doctor to think it would be unsafe to do so.
  • 2.4. Prescriptions for medicine will be sent by Dr Morton's to a partner pharmacy ("Partner Pharmacy") for dispensing and delivery to the Customer.
  • 2.5. Customers may request and Doctors may recommend a Test Kit. Test Kits ordered by a Customer are dispatched by and processed on return from the Customer by a Partner Laboratory to produce a report on behalf of the Customer for Dr Morton’s (the “Test Kit Report”). Test Kits are dispatched by our Partner Laboratory on weekdays between 09:00 and 17:00. Customers have a maximum of 3 months within which to return their samples and paperwork to the Partner Laboratory for processing. Test Kit Reports are clinically interpreted by a qualified Doctor and summarised in a note to the Customer to produce test kit results (“Test Kit Results”). The completion of Test Kit Results by a Dr Morton’s Doctor are notified to the Customer by email so that the Customer may log in and review the Test Kit Results in a secure manner online. Once the Customer has had access to the Test Kit Results the Customer also has access to the underlying Test Kit Report produced by the Partner Laboratory.
  • 2.6. Customers may request and Doctors may recommend a Referral Letter when the medical condition discussed by phone or email requires further analysis in person by a specialist Consultant. Once purchased a Referral Letter is made available online for the Customers use so that the Customer may print it out for use with Consultant or Medical Insurer.
  • 2.7. Dr Morton's is pleased to provide follow up medical advice to address any side effects and other issues arising from treatment and Customers are encouraged to provide feedback.
  • 2.8. Where a Customer is registered with a General Practitioner ("Registered GP") in the UK and agrees, Dr Morton's will endeavour to keep the Customer's Registered GP informed of significant consultations or prescriptions by sending a copy of the Doctor's note of the consultation with the Customer to the Registered GP. If the Customer has not authorised Dr Morton's to inform their GP or has not provided the current contact details, the Customer should inform their Registered GP. It is the Customer's responsibility in any event to inform their Registered GP of any medical treatment prescribed by Dr Morton's.
3. Restrictions to services provided
  • 3.1. A number of restrictions to the Services that may be provided are set out in the Terms and Conditions which you should read before you start.
  • 3.2. The Service is aimed primarily at minor illnesses and is not intended to address long term or chronic conditions either arising or pre-existing although in some cases a Doctor may be able to provide reassurance.
  • 3.3. Services are not provided face to face and so, in the event that the Doctor determines that face to face consultation is necessary, the Customer will be told to see another medical practitioner that is able to provide a consultation in person such as a General Practitioner ("GP") in a physical surgery or the Accident and Emergency department of a hospital ("A&E"). Where a Telephone Call or Email consultation with Dr Morton's has already commenced the Service provided until the point that it is determined that face to face consultation is necessary will nevertheless be chargeable. We recommend that Customers do not use the Service for matters (as for example in the case of a suspected broken leg) where face to face consultation is likely to be more appropriate.
4. Partner Pharmacy
  • 4.1. Dr Morton's is not a pharmacy or chemist and does not sell medicine direct to the public. No medicine is provided to a Customer without a prescription from a Doctor registered with the General Medical Council. As part of the Service provided, Dr Morton's will arrange for any medicine prescribed for a Customer to be dispensed by the Partner Pharmacy on the Customers behalf. Payment for any medicine prescribed for a Customer is taken by Dr Morton's as part of the Service provided and is used on behalf of the Customer to meet the cost of dispensing and delivery of the medicine from the Partner Pharmacy to the Customer.
  • 4.2. The "Partner Pharmacy" to Dr Morton's is Mayberry Pharmacy. Mayberry Pharmacy Limited is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council registration number 1043349. Medicine is dispensed by Mayberry Pharmacy Ltd, 175 High St, Blackwood, Gwent, NP12 1AA where the Superintendent Pharmacist is Steve Ridd GPHC Reg. No. 2029350.
5. Partner Laboratory
  • 5.1. The “Partner Laboratory” to Dr Morton’s is County Pathology Limited, a company registered in England number 5900958. County Pathology Limited is fully accredited with UKAS and is regulated by the CQC for the provision of diagnostic and screening procedures from its laboratory based at 31 Frederick Sanger Road, Guildford, GU2 7YD. The UKAS Clinical Pathology Accreditation registration number of County Pathology Limited is 2857.
  • 5.2. As part of the Service provided, Dr Morton’s will arrange for any Test Kits orders accepted by Dr Morton’s to be dispatched and then processed in the laboratory of the Partner Laboratory into a Test Kit Report. Payment to Dr Morton’s for the Test Kit provides for both clinical interpretation by a Doctor at Dr Morton’s into a Test Kit Result and the Test Kit Report from the Partner Laboratory. Dr Morton’s is not a laboratory and does not analyse blood or urine samples or produce Test Kit Reports. The Partner Laboratory will be solely responsible for the Test Kit Report and Doctors acting for Dr Morton’s are entitled to rely upon it. Doctors acting for Dr Morton’s are responsible for and will perform a clinical analysis on behalf of the Customer of the Test Kit Report to produce a Test Kit Result. In some cases, depending upon what the Test Kit Report shows, a Doctor may ask a Customer to call to discuss the Test Kit Result before reading it. In such cases additional charges for calls or further emails at advertised rates may apply.
6. Email
  • 6.1. "Email" means either Portal Email or Public Network Email as defined below.
  • 6.2. "Portal Email" means a secure portal email recorded or sent within the Customer Area of Dr Morton's Website which may only be accessed or sent by the Customer by logging into the Website using the Customer's user name and password. Portal Email is only accessible to the Customer and to Dr Morton's.
  • 6.3. "Public Network Email" means email sent across any network not within Dr Morton's Website or direct control including but not limited to messaging services such as Gmail and Hotmail. Public Networks Emails are considered by Dr Morton's to be less secure than Portal Email and generally inappropriate for medical advice as there is a greater risk that they may be intercepted or viewed by others. Public Network Emails are normally only used by Dr Morton's to send a notification of a Portal Email or for administrative matters.
  • 6.4. As a matter of policy and to protect Customer confidentiality, medical advice will not be communicated by Public Network Email unless the Customer has provided consent. Once such consent has been provided by a Customer it will remain in place until explicitly withdrawn in writing.
  • 6.5. The policy of using Portal Email is similar to that used by many banks for improved data security. Portal Email is considered safer than actual mail because it carries a lower risk of misdirection or interception.
7. Email conversation
  • 7.1. An "Email conversation" is defined by Dr Morton's as an exchange of up to two Emails on the same topic initiated by the Customer and responded to by the Doctor. Following receipt of an Email, a Doctor may seek to clarify the question posed by responding to the Customer with an Email and the Customer may send a further Email to clarify the question being asked before the Doctor responds with advice. In the Doctor's sole discretion, the Doctor may extend the number of Emails exchanged before the Email conversation is concluded. In the event that an Email conversation contains more than one topic or question, Dr Morton's is entitled to make further charges for each Email conversation.
  • 7.2. Where an Email conversation has commenced but the outcome is pending Customer response and remains unresolved after 72 hours because a Customer has not replied to an Email sent by a Doctor seeking clarification, Dr Morton's shall be entitled to conclude that the Email conversation has completed and charge the Customer.
8. Telephone Calls
  • 8.1. "Telephone call" means any oral and/or visual communication between Customer and a representative of Dr Morton's by electronic means including but not limited to telephone call over a public service network or mobile telephone network, voice-over internet protocol, data network, Skype, Lync , Facetime or any other communication facilitator.
  • 8.2. Accurate diagnosis and medical advice depends on clear communication between patient and Doctor. If the Doctor decides the quality of Telephone call connection is not good enough or the Doctor is unable to communicate effectively with the Customer for any reason, he or she may decide to discontinue or decline to give Service, at his or her sole discretion.
9. Feedback
  • 9.1. Dr Morton's aims to "provide quality advice, with kindness, and using words that you can understand". Feedback on our Services is welcomed and requested. Please ask us again if the words used by the Doctor are not delivered in plain English, are not readily understandable or if too much medical jargon is used because Doctors have discretion to suspend charges in such circumstances and may answer a question that the Customer repeats for free.