Introduction and credits

Introduction to the National Searching Guidance.

This guidance is intended for Knowledge and Library Services (KLS) staff tasked with searching the evidence on behalf of NHS staff.

The authors acknowledge that searching is a professional skill and this guidance does not replace an expert searcher: it is meant for professionals to refer to in an advisory capacity when performing a search, to supplement their institutional/local practice.

The suggested time to allocate to this search figures offered at the top of each entry are intended as rough suggestions to help plan time only, and encompass all the stages of the search including the compiling of a search report, with any summarising and synthesising that might be undertaken.

The lower figure will apply more to simpler search topics and/or to searchers experienced with that type of search, while the upper figures will apply more to trickier search topics and/or to searchers less experienced with that type of search.

Every individual search will vary greatly depending on its complexity and yield though.

Since The London Kent Surrey Sussex [LKSS] Regional Searching Guidance (2nd Edition) was published in April 2021, a lot has changed in the NHS KLS landscape.

NICE’s Evidence Services, including 2 essential tools for KLS staff, NICE Evidence Search and Healthcare Databases Advanced Search (HDAS), were decommissioned in March 2022.

Though not a replacement for these losses, the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub rose to prominence, opening-up e-resources for end-users, but shifting in-depth searching further towards KLS staff; and a new national quality assurance framework (QIOF), replaced the old framework (LQAF).

Across the NHS more broadly, mergers and reorganisations continued with Integrated Care Systems forming, and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) replacing Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

The NHS has become the first health service to commit to going “net zero”, COVID recovery continues, and 13 years of austerity and underfunding have exacerbated health inequalities and social injustice, prompting KLS staff everywhere to consider new roles beyond our job descriptions.

The National Searching Guidance Working Group pupose is to help services deliver HEE’s Knowledge for Healthcare 2021-26 aim of “supporting the work of expert searchers” (p42) by sharing best practice in evidence-searching in the collaborative spirit of “do once and share”.

As the predecessor to this guidance was used far beyond the LKSS region it was intended for, going national seemed the next logical step.

While this national guidance has kept the same presentation and organisation as its forebear, rather than a quick  “find and replace” of its contents, the Working Group has:

  • reviewed and improved upon every aspect of the previous guidance
  • sought expert colleagues’ and reviewers’ opinions to strengthen the recommendations and coverage

This version of this guidance is now considered the default version.  A pdf version is hosted on the KLS Search and Training Forums (London, South East and South West) workspace on FutureNHS and on The Searching and Training Forums Wiki.  All these sites will be updated with the latest edition of the guidance simultaneously after the Working Group’s quarterly review and updates, to keep this guidance relevant, current, and accessible.

Following the second update of this guidance, published in June 2023, Welsh colleagues Jennie Roe and Anne Cleves have been welcomed into the group, further additions have been made to the resources appendix, and NHS Digital’s and HEE ‘s merger with NHS England is now reflected in this edition.

The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its uptake in searching and healthcare more broadly is a recent development that the Working Group has incorporated into this edition of the guidance, though colleagues are still directed towards the Current and Emerging Technology in Knowledge and Library Services Community of Practice’s workspace on FutureNHS to keep up with this quickly evolving field.

With your assistance, we aim to improve and update this guidance continuously. Though this edition is published well behind our planned quarterly review/update schedule, we aim to keep the schedule nonetheless.

The next review date is: August 2024.

With your assistance, we aim to improve and update this guidance continuously. To provide feedback or to submit an example search report for inclusion in the supplement, contact Adam Tocock on [email protected] or use this anonymous form.

Any broken links identified will be addressed immediately, please email Adam Tocock on [email protected].

Thank you to everyone that provided feedback on the previous edition, and to our reviewers and extra contributors for their help and expertise:

  • Helen Swales, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Kristi Smith, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Rosalind McNally, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tom Kelly, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
  • Natasha Howard, North East London NHS Foundation Trust
  • Kirsten Elliott, Imperial College London
  • Affra Al Shamsi, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
  • Holly Case-Wyatt, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Sarah Mathieson, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • John Barbrook, University of Lancaster
  • Lucy Reid, NHS England Knowledge and Library Services
  • Susan Prosser, Swansea Bay University Health Board (who, with Sarah Rudd of North Bristol NHS Trust, first suggested the LKSS Regional Searching Guidance could “go national”)
  • Tracy Dixon, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Rhys Whelan, Swansea Bay University health Board
  • Morag Evans, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Karen Stringer, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • James Hurst, North East London NHS Foundation Trust
  • Liz Bridge, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Karen Skinner, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Andra Fry, LSE Library
  • Gavin Moore, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sarah Rudd, North Bristol NHS Trust
  • Helen Elwell, formerly of the British Medical Association
  • Susan Smith, Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Hannah Wood, NHS England
  • Derick Yates, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
  • Lindsay Snell, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust

I would like to thank The National Searching Guidance Working Group for all their hard work creating this guidance:

  • Igor Brbre, NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland
  • Hayley Clarke, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
  • Anne Cleves, Velindre University NHS Trust and Cardiff University
  • Naila Dracup, University of Warwick
  • Sophie Easey, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tom Kelly, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
  • Gill Foster, NHS England
  • Assad Lahlou, Barts Health
  • Louise Levitt, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Alison McLaren, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Emma Ramstead, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tricia Rey (retired)
  • Jennie Roe, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Cardiff University
  • Heather Steele, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • Lucy Wells, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

And a special thanks to our dearly missed colleague Lynne Mackie, whose influence runs right through this.

Adam Tocock, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

This is version 1.3 released in May 2024.