Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library &
Knowledge Service
Providing services to Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust,
Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust and NHS
Cambridgeshire
Strategy
2011-2014
Author:
Version:
Date:
Library and Knowledge Service Managers
V.1.00
July 2011
Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library &
Knowledge Service Strategy
2011-2014
Approval and Authorisation
Review /
Approval
Committee or Team
Date
Review
Consultation with users and stakeholders
May 2011
Adoption
Trust Board
September 2011
Change History
Version
Date
Author
Reason for change and
Sections Affected
V1.00
July 2011
Library & Information Services Manager
New Strategy
Next
Review
Date
July
2014
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Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library &
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Contents
Approval and Authorisation ....................................................................................... 2
Contents.................................................................................................................... 3
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 4
2. Vision ................................................................................................................. 5
3. Strategic Principles ............................................................................................ 6
4. Evaluation and Performance Measuring............................................................. 8
5 Review of Strategy ............................................................................................. 8
Related Documents .................................................................................................. 8
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Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library &
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2011-2014
1.
Introduction
Health libraries in the NHS have a responsibility to provide knowledge
services for NHS and social care staff across all sectors in support of
evidence-based practice, clinical and management decision making,
commissioning decision and policy making, and patient health and well-being.
Health libraries therefore have a pivotal role in education training and
development, continual professional development and life long learning,
clinical governance, research and development, health promotion and
information for patients.
The strategy for Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library & Knowledge Service
(Library) is underpinned by Peter Hill’s report: “Report of a national review of
NHS health library services in England: from Knowledge to health in the 21st
Century,” the NHS Library Quality Assurance Framework (LQAF), and is also
informed by the NHS White Paper: “Liberating the NHS an Information
Revolution Consultation Document”. The strategy has also been devised in
consultation with users and stakeholders. It is intended that this strategy will
provide an evolving framework to enable the Library to fulfil its commitment to
staff, patients and stakeholders in the provision of a high quality knowledge
service.
Future library developments will be informed by analyses of user needs and:
1. National developments, in particular, the LQAF, NHS White paper:
Liberating the NHS an Information Revolution consultation document
and Peter Hill’s report.
2. Regional developments informed by the East of England Strategic
Health Authority’s (SHA) Learning and Development Agreement, and
the East of England Health Libraries Network (EEHLN); and
3. Local needs of Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust (HHCT) and
those with whom the Library has a service level agreement.
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2.
Vision
The Library’s vision:
Library and Knowledge services should support the needs of all those who
work to improve patient care and the health of the population. Library services
should support both clinical and non-clinical practice, staff development and
research and development. The Library will therefore work with the senior
members of staff within HHCT and other organisations it serves to ensure that
the: “library service is regarded as part of the core business of the NHS” within
a culture of learning 1
HHCT’s vision involves providing the best experience for patients and their
families; recognising the value of its staff; treating all with respect and dignity;
and prioritising the safety and quality of health care. In its support of
multidisciplinary practice and lifelong learning, and in its provision of patient
information and health promotion, the Library will contribute to all aspects of
this vision.
The Library provides services for primary care and public health in line with
the NHS Cambridgeshire and Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS
Trust (CCS) Service Level Agreement. In its provision of services to NHS
Cambridgeshire the Library will help to contribute to its vision of “high quality
effective services that continue to improve health outcomes across all
communities in Cambridgeshire.” 2 and will also contribute to CCS’s vision:
“To deliver high quality health and social care to maximise the health and
wellbeing of the people [it] serve[s].”3
The Library’s mission is therefore to:
Provide library and knowledge services to support the information and
knowledge needs of all staff and students working to deliver high
quality health care to NHS patients.
1
Institute for Innovation and Improvement, National service framework of quality improvement for
NHS funded library services in England version 1.1 2008. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/nsf_for_quality_improvement_2008_v1.1.pdf [Accessed 21 April
2011] pp 18
2
NHS Cambridgeshire. Our Vision, Organisation Objectives 2008-09 [Online]. Available at
http://www.cambridgeshirepct.nhs.uk/default.asp?id=688 [accessed 7 April 2010]
3
Cambridgeshire Community Services. Our Vision and Values. [Online], Available at
http://www.cambscommunityservices.nhs.uk/AboutUs/OurVisionsandValues/tabid/539/language/enGB/Default.aspx [accessed 7 April 2010]
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3.
Strategic principles:
To achieve this mission, the Library will seek to achieve the following for all of
its stakeholders.
Ensure appropriate access to appropriate resources, developing
multidisciplinary services for multidisciplinary users
The Library needs to ensure its information base encompasses all health
related disciplines relevant to those eligible to use the Library at every level.
Information technology has enabled libraries to become more portable and
virtual. By embracing these technologies the Library will enable users to
access services in a virtual as well as physical way.
“Library/ Knowledge services need to focus on mobilising the knowledge base
of health care in a form that health and social care can use”4
To achieve this the Library will:

Develop its resource base and services to reflect user needs and
requirements.

Promote resources and services to reflect different access routes to
information and knowledge to enable access anytime anywhere.

Provide the “infrastructure” to manage and distribute library knowledge via
the intranet and Library web pages and by embracing other information
technologies.

Provide comprehensive training programmes (e.g. via groups, one-to-one
and e-learning etc) to equip users with the skills to interrogate the
resources available, and provide users with the tools to manage their own
current awareness to keep abreast of issues affecting their clinical
practice.

Provide comprehensive current awareness and alerting services which will
contribute towards the adoption of evidence based practice within clinical
and management teams.

Provide relevant, evidence-based information from appropriate sources to
inform best practice and contribute towards better patient care.
4
IBID pp 12
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Contribute to local, national and regional networks
Continue to build on and develop networks and good working relationships
with health libraries both locally, regionally and nationally to enable better coordination, collaboration, joint working and sharing of best practice. This is in
line with the principle outlined in Peter Hill’s report of “do once and share”5.
The Library will contribute to library service developments within the EEHLN
and involvement at national level will be via the Strategic Health Authority
Library Leads (SHALL) and NHS Evidence (formerly the National Library for
Health).
Consumer Health Information
Continue to support the local delivery of consumer health information via the
Hinchingbrooke Info Zone. Accessible, relevant and well structured
information for patients and their carers is at the heart of the Government’s
information revolution ideas.
Health Promotion Resources Services
Support the development of health promotion in Cambridgeshire by delivering
the Health Promotion Resources Service in line with NHS Cambridgeshire’s
priorities and strategic direction.
Finance
The Library will ensure that funding is in line with services provided by:

complying with the criteria specified within the SHA’s Learning and
Development Agreement in order to be eligible to receive SHA funding,
and

negotiating service level agreements with organisations receiving Library
services.
Library services will be developed in line with best practice and taking account
of value for money.
5
Hill, P.,2008. Report of a national review of NHS health library services in England: from Knowledge
to health in the 21st Century [Online]. Available at:
http://www.library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/national_library_review_final_report_4feb_081.pdf [Accessed 21
April 2011] pp 30
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2011-2014
4.
Evaluation and performance measuring
The Library will be measured on an annual basis against the LQAF standards.
This framework “enables a robust quality assessment” and assesses the level
of compliance to National standards. The LQAF provides a clear focus for
action planning to drive forward quality improvements in NHS Library and
Knowledge services.6
In order to accord with LQAF standards, we will continue to collect and
analyse activity statistics. These will be used to define the user profile,
measure our performance and identify areas for development and promotion.
Annual statistics are also submitted to the EEHLN and stakeholders.
The Library will gain user feedback, e.g. user surveys, questionnaires on
specific services and training etc. This will enable evaluation of user
satisfaction with services and assess the impact of library services in
supporting evidence based health care.
An action plan accompanies this strategy and annual objectives will be set
against the strategy and action plan. The Library’s Annual Report will review
progress and performance and provide feedback on the set objectives and
any challenges/ issues raised.
5. Review of Strategy
This strategy will be reviewed annually and as required to ensure it reflects
the changing environment within which the service is provided. This will
include any changes to the future strategic direction of Hinchingbrooke
Healthcare NHS Trust.
Related Documents
Hinchingbrooke Healthcare Library & Knowledge Service: 3 Year Action Plan
2011-2014
6
Strategic Health Authority Library Leads (SHALL), 2010. NHS Library quality assurance framework
(LQAF) England version 2.1 April 2010. pp 3
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