NHS Library and Knowledge Services are helping to deliver the best care and treatment possible to patients.

Making the gathering of information as easy as possible for healthcare professionals, getting the required evidence into practice and giving them the ‘gift of time’ which they can then spend with patients is where Library and Knowledge Services can have both a direct and indirect effect on the care patients receive and a positive impact on NHS services as a whole.

Health Education England (HEE) commissioned a report Library and Knowledge Services Value Proposition: The Gift of Time, identifying key benefits of a library and knowledge service within an NHS organisation and, specifically, the specialist roles embedded within NHS teams.

Findings in a recently published international literature review [see p21 of Report for list of referenced materials] showed that for every $1 of funding spent on library and knowledge services a return of $2.4 is received. If applicable to the NHS it suggests that library and knowledge services are already delivering a net economic benefit of £77m per annum. Were HEE’s recommended staff ratio for qualified librarians per member of the NHS workforce achieved, this could increase to £106m per annum.

Read the report and find out more about NHS Library and Knowledge Services.

Header image: photo of Walsall Healthcare NHS, provided by Health Education England.