Hanna,

I have to echo Liz’s comments about the site in general and in particular about the search engine that will drive the website. Very little is actually known about this and how it will incorporate and integrate the content resources that are currently available on the NLH. I note that librarians are classed as key stakeholders yet on the dawn of its launch we are largely in the dark except for its outline concept. I like the majority of my colleagues have read the latest NLH newsletter and the information on the website yet it doesn’t answer many questions.

 

 

Hi Liz and other NHS librarians,

You can find out the latest on NHS Evidence on the NICE website http://www.nice.org.uk/ , in the NLH’s last bulletin http://www.library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/nlh_newsletter,_march_09,_vol1,_iss_10_v2.pdf and on the NLH website itself http://www.library.nhs.uk/Default.aspx.

Any enquiries can be sent to [log in to unmask]. I have forwarded your email requesting information to be sent to this list. I also enclose a summary of the new service below.

Kind regards,

Hanna.

Summary: In Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review, NICE was asked to establish NHS Evidence to provide access to a comprehensive evidence base for everyone in health and social care who makes decisions about treatments or the use of resources. NHS Evidence will go live on 30 April 2009.

NHS Evidence will inform patient care, commissioning and service management. It will also quality-assess producers of guidance and recommendations for practice in order to drive up standards of evidence in the longer-term.

What is NHS Evidence?

NHS Evidence is a complex service which will:

·         Help people from across the health and social care sector to find access and use clinical and non-clinical evidence and other information of the highest quality

·         Draw on a comprehensive range of information sources (including local experience)

·         Bring different types of information together in an integrated portal

·         Present information in a way that can be customised by users to meet their specific needs

·         Become the ‘first point of contact’ for NHS staff to access evidence

·         Be built around a powerful search engine

·         Allow users to customise the service based on their own needs and preferences

·         Provide an accreditation process so that users can have confidence in the quality of information provided in health and social care

·         Accredit sources of information – not the information itself

The NHS Evidence portal

A key component of the NHS Evidence service is an online portal giving access to comprehensive, high quality information and local experience. It will become the first point of contact for health and social care staff to access evidence and related information including research data and local experience.

The system will be built around a powerful search engine. Users will be able to browse evidence using ‘topic trees’, and upload and share their own content (such as local service models and policies). Users will also be able to customise the service based on their own preferences – for example, to access evidence that is tailored to their needs, and to receive alerts about new information.

Users will be able to access other related sites directly from links on the portal. These will include sites such as NHS Choices and NHS Direct and trade journals such as BMJ or HSJ. 

National Library for Health

National Library for Health staff will become part of NHS Evidence on 1 April 2009 when they transfer under TUPE to NHS Evidence. However, the portal goes live on 30 April when users will first see NHS Evidence in operation. At this point, the NLH website will be rebranded as NHS Evidence, although it will still be identifiable as NLH. Subsequent modifications to the old NLH site will take place in the first 6 months after launch of NHS Evidence.

NHS Evidence will cover more than the current NLH remit:

·         NHS Evidence will cover both health and social care

·         Users will include clinical practitioners and commissioners. NHS Evidence is not focused on a librarian audience, although this group remains an important set of stakeholders

·         NHS Evidence will not host any content, but search external sources of information

·         NHS Evidence will provide an accreditation scheme for some categories of information

NHS Evidence will:

·         Provide easy access to comprehensive sources of information

·         Identify sources that represent best practice for developing evidence

·         Accredit sources of information, driving up the quality of evidence produced

·         Contribute to increased quality of care due to high quality evidence

Accreditation scheme

Central to NHS Evidence is a robust accreditation scheme. It will ensure that users can have confidence in accredited sources of information. Accreditation will be granted by an independent advisory board. Under principles of transparency and inclusiveness, the NHS Evidence accreditation process will incorporate the following:

·         A comprehensive set of supporting documentation (comprising the guidance producer’s submission) is used to inform the development of recommendations for accreditation. All information submitted is subject to rigorous assessment and analysis against a set of defined criteria designed to assess the processes used to develop guidance.

·         Input from relevant experts and healthcare professionals forms part of all processes.

·         Patients and carers have the opportunity to be involved.

·         An independent advisory committee will make accreditation decisions.

·         A transparent process and method underpins the development of all accreditation decisions. This includes open access to advisory committee meetings.

·         A one-month public consultation allows external stakeholders to comment on and inform the development of the advisory committee's accreditation decision.

·         A process of regular review to update the accreditation decisions and the process manual ensures that accreditation decisions are of continuing value.

Governance

NHS Evidence is provided by NICE – being impartial but able to draw on the expertise and resources of NICE.

NHS Evidence: Timeline

NLH staff will join NHS Evidence on 1 April 2009 but the service will not go live until 30 April. The portal will be released in a number of stages and will take some years to reach full functionality as the most effective gateway to all health and social care information provided by a broad range of accredited sources. 

 

·         Release 1 will go live on 30 April 2009 with limited functionality.

·         Between Release 1 and Release 2 the portal will be enhanced based on user feedback and technical enhancements. Some of these may not be apparent to the user but will be ensuring the effectiveness of the system.

·         Release 2 will include the first wave of accredited sources, additional functionality and will be released later this year.   

 

 

Hi All,

At the risk of putting the cat amongst the pigeons, is anyone else concerned about the lack of information there’s been for librarians about NHS Evidence? Have any librarians been involved in the user testing? I know it’s possible that my ear has not been to the ground but there does not seem to have been much discussion about this rather major development which is going to impact on all of us in the NHS.

Any thoughts?

 

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