Providing information for Public Health staff isn’t as hard as it seems! You already have the search skills you need and can use a lot of the usual resources. But you also need to ‘think out of the box’ for the Grey Literature that PH Practitioners like to see. And since Public Health’s move to Local Government they’re more involved in supporting their local Council’s Social Care objectives. So their information needs also include social research, available through specific databases, and information from academic, government and other organisations freely available on the Web.
Public Health teams are also Commissioners, and like Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) they also use Data as ‘Evidence’. But unlike ICBs they’re traditionally more research-focused and understand that evidence from the Literature helps put that data into context. Although they may have search skills of their own, the move to Local Authorities puts them one step away from NHS resources. So we can still help them register for OpenAthens (yes, they’re still eligible), teach them how to use the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub , advanced Google search and help them use the library service to get seemingly ‘unobtainable’ articles and other material.
Some useful resources include:
NICE: Evidence-based recommendations developed by independent committees, including professionals and lay members, and consulted on by stakeholders.
Cochrane Library - a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making,
Social Care Online from SCIE, the Social Care Institute for Excellence - from Dec 2023 the site will cease to be updated
SocINDEX – Public Health in Sussex have access with an OpenAthens login via EBSCOhost
Social Policy & Practice – Public Health have access with an OpenAthens login via Ovid
Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA) from ProQuest – an institutional subscription may be necessary
The King's Fund - good resource for information on health and care in England
Charity websites - a wealth of information on their specific areas of interest eg British Heart Foundation and the Trussell Trust
Local government websites for local policies
Joseph Rowntree Foundation - an independent organisation working to inspire social change through research, policy and practice.
The National Grey Literature Collection
Google - use domain searches to find grey literature by adding site: to your search string then any of the following –
nhs.uk
gov.uk
org.uk
ac.uk
edu.uk
Local Government Association (LGA) including – Health, wellbeing and adult social care and Publications
There are a wealth of other resources on the Web, too many to list here! - contact us for help at liz.bridge@nhs.net or francesca.marcelline@nhs.net