UCLP library project

In March 2009, 5 academic health science centres (AHSC) were officically formed and recognised by the Government, these are partnerships between a university and NHS Trust with the aim to improve the quality of health services by bringing research, educaton and patient care closer together. AHSCs include :

Cambridge University Health Partners
Imperial College AHSC
King's Health Partners
Manchester AHSC
UCL Partners

JISC Collections, the UK academic community e-content procurement service, major STM publishers and database suppliers have agreed on a 1-year pilot programme that will allow the univeristies at the AHSCs to extend access to their subscribed content to their partner NHS organisations. Publishers include Elsevier, Nature, Springer, Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer Health have granted extended access at no additional cost for 2011.

Works are underway to link the resources to Athens, once activated, they will be available through MyAthens. The project will end on 31 December 2011.

Peter Hill report - From knowledge to health in the 21st Century

The Hill Report is a review of the NHS Libraries in England commissioned by the National Library of Health(NLH) with the aim to help the NLH to "transform patient care and public health".

There are 50 recommendations, I think the followings may be of particular interest to clinical teams that support evidence-based practice:

In every NHS organisation, someone at board level should be entrusted with the role of Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) for that organisation with the responsibility as described

Every clinical or management team in the NHS should identify someone in the team as Team Knowledge Officer (TKO) who will have responsibility for ensuring the effective nput of evidence to enable the team to function properly

Library & related information/knowledge services must be regarded as part of the core business of the NHS by the DH & all NHS organisations, all of whom need access to an appropriate service & an skilled librarian

The last DH guidance on library service was issued in 1997.

If you are a clinician, do you regard the library & knowledge services part of the core business of the NHS? What is your view?