Trust
What we commit to, what our checks actually cover, what we got wrong and fixed, who pays for this, and where our coverage runs out.
The community charter
Nine commitments. They are written as constraints on future business decisions, not as marketing — the test is whether AskHer can make a decision that helps women when it costs a paying organisation, or Shely.
1. Core questions and answers stay free to read
Reading an educational explanation never requires payment, an account, or buying anything else from Shely.
2. You can take part without a public health identity
There is no public profile, no follower count and no visible activity history linking you to the questions you have asked.
3. Contributors owe us no patients
Doctors do not need to buy a subscription, refer patients to Shely, or bring business to anyone in order to contribute.
4. Doctors and organisations may link to their own practices
Linking to your own clinic is allowed and expected. Using every answer as a route into your clinic is not.
5. Payment cannot buy verification, answers or silence
No amount of money buys a verification badge, changes a medical explanation, improves a directory ranking, or removes a criticism.
6. Sponsors never see private questions
Sponsors and funders have no access to private questions, saved items or health-interest histories, in any form, aggregated or otherwise.
7. Medical content has a name attached to it
Every substantive explanation shows who wrote it, the sources used and how it was reviewed. A clinically reviewed answer names the clinician who reviewed it and the date. An answer that was reviewed by an editor rather than a clinician, or written with AI assistance and not yet reviewed by a person, is labelled that way on the page.
8. You can challenge a decision
Moderation decisions, publication refusals and corrections can be appealed. An appeal is decided by a senior editor who was not involved in the original decision, with a written reason. An independent reviewer from outside the operating team is planned but not yet appointed.
9. Shely gets no preferential clinical treatment
Shely services are subject to the same editorial rules as anyone else and receive no ranking or recommendation advantage.
What a verification check actually checks
We say "Registration checked by AskHer". We do not say "NMC-verified", because the NMC does not verify anyone on our behalf.
Registration checked by AskHer
- What is checked
- Identity documents, a current registration number against the relevant state or national register, the primary qualification, and the specialty claimed.
- How often
- The desk sets a recheck date for each clinician when it records the check, and rechecks at once if a concern is raised.
- What this does not mean
- This is not an NMC endorsement, an accreditation, or a statement that every published claim by that clinician is accurate. AskHer never describes a contributor as "NMC-verified".
Organisation details checked
- What is checked
- The applicant’s authority to represent the organisation, the registered address, and the official contact channels.
- How often
- Reconfirmed annually, and after any reported change.
- What this does not mean
- This is not an inspection, an accreditation, or an assessment of the quality of care given at that location.
Clinically reviewed
- What is checked
- A second qualified clinician, who is not the author, has read the explanation against current guidance and recorded conflicts of interest.
- How often
- Every explanation has a scheduled review date shown on the page.
- What this does not mean
- Review means the explanation is defensible general education. It is not advice about your own situation and cannot replace a consultation.
Translation reviewed
- What is checked
- A reviewer fluent in the target language has checked the translated explanation against the original for clinical meaning, not only wording.
- How often
- A translation awaiting review is labelled as such on the page, every time.
- What this does not mean
- A language being selectable in the interface does not mean reviewed content exists in it.
Editorial independence
"Independent" means several different things. Some are true of AskHer today and some are not, so we list each one with its status rather than using the word on its own.
| Commitment | What it means here | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Open access | Core educational content can be read without payment or an account. | In force |
| Open participation | Anyone can ask a question. Eligible professionals can apply to contribute. | In force |
| Editorial independence | Commercial interests cannot determine medical explanations, corrections or directory rankings. No sponsor, organisation or Shely service can pay for a different answer or a better position. | In force |
| Independent clinical editorial oversight | A named clinical lead with written authority to refuse or correct content regardless of its commercial value, including Shely’s. | Planned. Begins when a clinical lead is appointed. |
| Organisational independence | Separate ownership or governance from Shely. | Not in place. Shely owns and operates AskHer, and we do not claim otherwise. |
AskHer is published as AskHer by Shely. Shely owns and operates it. Independent clinical editorial oversight is planned: it begins when a clinical lead is appointed, and until then we do not claim it. We do not describe AskHer as a separate organisation, because it is not one.
Who decides what
- Shely operating team
- Product, engineering, staffing and budget.
- Clinical lead and editorial council (planned)
- Clinical standards, publication disputes, safety corrections, with authority to reject sponsored content and require corrections. Begins when a clinical lead is appointed.
- Community advisory panel
- Participation experience, accessibility, language priorities. Compensated, recruited privately.
- Appeals
- Decided by a senior editor who was not involved in the original decision, with a written reason. An independent reviewer from outside the operating team is planned, not yet appointed.
What AskHer currently supports
Counted from this instance when the page was built, not from a plan. A language with reviewed content is not the same as a language somebody can answer in, and both are listed separately above. This is more useful than a claim that everything is available everywhere in India, which would not be true.
Counted 5 Nov 2026.
Languages
A language being selectable in the interface does not mean reviewed content or a clinician exists in it. These are tracked separately for that reason.
| Language | Interface | Reviewed content | Answering capacity | What you can do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Full | 82 answers, 9 articles Not counted: 1195 written with AI assistance and not yet reviewed by a clinician, labelled on each page. | Not yet | Reading only |
| हिन्दी (Hindi) | Some screens | 0 answers, 1 article | Not yet | Reading only |
| தமிழ் (Tamil) | Some screens | 0 answers, 1 article | Not yet | Reading only |
| বাংলা (Bengali) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| తెలుగు (Telugu) | Some screens | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| മലയാളം (Malayalam) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| ગુજરાતી (Gujarati) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| मराठी (Marathi) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| اردو (Urdu) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| অসমীয়া (Assamese) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| ଓଡ଼ିଆ (Odia) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| संस्कृतम् (Sanskrit) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| कोंकणी (Konkani) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| मैथिली (Maithili) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| डोगरी (Dogri) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| बोड़ो (Bodo) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| संताली (Santali) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| মণিপুরী (Manipuri) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| नेपाली (Nepali) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| كٲشُر (Kashmiri) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
| سنڌي (Sindhi) | Not yet | None yet | Not yet | Not yet available |
Specialties and answering capacity
We'll tell you if we can't answer.
A typical wait is not a commitment, and a question that needs urgent attention is escalated rather than left in the queue.
| Specialty | Clinicians whose registration is checked |
|---|---|
| No specialty has a clinician whose registration has been checked yet. | |
Session formats
Every AskHer Session is currently free. A format listed here exists; the counts say whether it has actually been scheduled.
| Format | Scheduled | Held |
|---|---|---|
| Educational Q&A | Not yet | 0 |
| Topic workshop | Not yet | 0 |
| Expert panel | Not yet | 0 |
| Office hours | Not yet | 0 |
| Small-group education | Not yet | 0 |
| Learning series | Not yet | 0 |
Where the directory covers
AskHer does not publish a per-city listing count. It used to, and the numbers were invented — which on a directory means telling a woman that somewhere near her is covered when it is not. Search Find care for your own area instead: it shows exactly what exists there, and offers to widen the radius or record that your area needs covering when nothing does.
What AskHer does not offer
- Individual medical advice, diagnosis or prescriptions. Everything on AskHer is general education.
- Emergency or crisis care. If something is urgent, contact a clinician or emergency service now.
- Confirmed appointment booking. Find care links to the practice’s own channels; an enquiry is not a booking.
- Direct messaging between members, and member directories on sensitive topics.
- Uploading medical documents or scans. There is no medical-record vault.
- Accounts for under-18s on sensitive submissions, until a separate safeguarding design is in place.
- Paid private consultations, or second opinions on your own test results.
- Any claim of complete anonymity. We hold the email address you give us, a phone number only where you give one, and short-lived request logs — see the privacy page for exactly what can be associated with an account.
Correction history
Every substantive correction, with the reason and who raised it. Corrections are published rather than quietly applied, because a reader who acted on the old version deserves to know it changed.
Nothing has been corrected yet. This list is read from the record, so it is empty because there is nothing in it — not because nothing is being tracked. Every substantive correction will appear here with its reason.
Moderation and appeal outcomes
How content reports, appeals and corrections were decided in the last 90 days — not how many are currently open, which is an operational question with a different answer. Counted across every community AskHer by Shely serves, because none of these are recorded per community.
- Corrections made
- 0
- Reports actioned
- 0
- Reports declined
- 0
- Appeals upheld
- 0
- Appeals declined
- 0
- Appeals withdrawn
- 0
Any number under 10 is shown as "fewer than 10" rather than exactly, so a small count next to a known population cannot identify who it was about.
Who pays for AskHer
AskHer is owned and operated by Shely, and is published as "AskHer by Shely". Independent clinical editorial oversight is planned: it begins when a clinical lead with written authority to refuse content is appointed, and until then we do not claim it. AskHer is not a separate legal entity, and we do not describe it as one.
| Source | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shely operating budget | Active | The only source of funding today. Engineering, hosting, moderation and editorial work. |
| Paid courses and workshops | Planned, not active | Nothing is on sale. If they launch, they stay optional, and no part of a free explanation is ever moved behind a purchase. |
| Institution-funded education grants | Planned, not active | None held. Any future grant would be unrestricted, and the funder named on every page it supported. |
| Optional tools for organisations | Planned, not active | Nothing is on sale. Administrative software only; buying it would change nothing about ranking or review. |
Today one source, Shely’s operating budget, pays for all of AskHer. When there is more than one, the transparency report will publish each one’s share rather than estimate it here.
What money cannot buy here
- Buy a verification badge or influence what a check covers
- Change, soften or delay a medical explanation or a correction
- Affect the order of results in Find care
- Access private questions, saved items or health-interest history
- Prevent publication of a criticism of the funder
We do not take pharmaceutical research funding, and we will not until there is governance in place that can withstand the conflict. That is a current decision, not a permanent promise.