Value Proposition: the Gift of Time

NHS Library and Knowledge specialists give health professionals the gift of time.

Knowledge and library specialists take the ‘heavy lifting’ out of getting evidence into practice,and enable the NHS to meet the statutory duty to use evidence from research.

The Gift of Time report commissioned by Health Education England, identified key benefits delivered by knowledge and library services to the NHS.

Contact the Knowledge for Healthcare team on [email protected] for the report in an accessible format.

Key messages from the report

NHS Knowledge and Library Services operate across a diverse and complex customer base.

The services provided take the ‘heavy lifting’ out of getting evidence into practice and give the ‘gift of time’ to healthcare professionals.

Informed decisions improve outcomes, quality of care, patient experience, resource utilisation and operational efficiencies.

This is best achieved when healthcare professionals are supported by the right knowledge services, with the right resources and with the right teams and roles.

When supported by high-performing Knowledge and Library Services, NHS provider organisations are able to demonstrate how they are meeting their statutory obligations to use evidence to inform practice and hence improve their CQC ratings.

NHS knowledge and library services provide healthcare professional staff with time-saving accelerated access to better quality evidence.

This in turn, enables the NHS to meet its statutory obligations to utilise evidence from research, and, as importantly, for healthcare professionals to use their time more effectively to drive improvements against the quadruple aim.

Case studies of high-performing NHS Knowledge and Library Services demonstrate two key enablers for benefits realisation:

1. They have a clear strategic leadership role in mobilisation evidence and knowledge.
2. They are integrated with service delivery.

There is a growing and consistent body of robust international evidence to support this value proposition.

Recently published research from the NHS suggests similar benefits do exist for the NHS. 

The study suggests that NHS knowledge services generate an overall economic benefit of £132m per annum for the NHS, delivering a net economic benefit of £77m pa. This could increase to £106m pa were recommended staff ratios for qualified librarians achieved.

Contact the Knowledge for Healthcare team on [email protected] for the document in an accessible format.

For more information, watch the presentation Jacques Mallender recorded for KLS staff.