- Overview
- Available Locations
- Join the Library
- Our training
- Books, journals and databases
- Useful resources and links*
Type
Library servicesWelcome to the NHFT Library site. We provide access to the best evidence, that supports both clinicians and managers, to help services provide high value care across Northamptonshire. Our goal is to put evidence at the heart of decision making. The Libraries are managed by Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and are available to NHS staff at Northamptonshire Healthcare and Northampton General Hospital and attached students.
While we carry out the traditional library role of providing books, journals and newspapers, we do much more than this. We offer a full enquiry and literature searching service, from answering basic questions to addressing complex clinical, research and management information needs, across the breadth of services within the NHS.
In each of the libraries, you will find qualified library staff who are there to offer you a friendly and effective service.
Although the libraries are all staffed during office hours, the service does not stop at 5pm. Once registered, all users can access the library at Northampton General Hospital 24 hours a day, every day. The 24/7 access at Berrywood Library is suspended at the moment but we will advertise when this is available again. Many of our services can also be accessed remotely, so you do not need to visit the library in person. Becoming a member of one library automatically allows you to use all of the others.
Our service is provided across a number of sites, each with its own specialisms, as well as providing more general stock. Please select the available locations tab to find out more about the individual library sites.
Available Locations
Join the Library
Membership is free and open to all NHFT and Northampton General Hospital staff, as well as attached students.
We also offer an annual subscription-based membership service to other individuals or organisations who aren't eligible to join.
For us to provide you with any of the services or resources offered, we request that you register as a member. A membership form can be obtained from each library site or you can complete the online registration form using the link below.
You will receive a library membership card and full details of service provision five working days after we receive your completed registration form.
Library Services Membership FormPlease note that:
- Membership is renewable every three years
- Membership cards are not transferable between individuals or organisations
- If you change your home address or work location, please inform the library
- If you lose a membership card please inform the library, as you may be charged a replacement fee
Library Induction
Our online induction video for new staff members
Our online induction video for students on placement
Subscription membership
For people who need access to health-related resources but do not qualify for membership to our service, we offer a subscription-based individual membership.
Anyone can join the Library on a subscription basis. We currently offer an:
- Annual subscription for £50
- Or a six-month subscription for £30
For the cost of your membership you will get:
- 24-hour access every day to the libraries at the Berrywood and Northampton General hospitals
- 9am-5pm access to Isebrook Library
- Access to physical library stock, resources, and the library catalogue
- Loans from our collections for up to six items on loan per member at any one time
- Access to databases and electronic books and journals via an OpenAthens password
- Access to the Internet while at Richmond, Berrywood or Isebrook Libraries
- Access to computers with MS Office
- Use of study facilities
- Access to induction/awareness and training workshops
- Quick reference and enquiry support - (defined as approximately 10 minutes of library staff time per enquiry)
Subscriptions can be purchased at any of the Library sites by cash, cheque, or bank transfer. Or, if you prefer, we can raise an invoice.
Additional services
We can also offer some additional services on a fee paying basis (see our subscription membership leaflet below for costs):
Supply of journal articles
- Photocopy/download of a journal article from stock or another library
- Photocopy of an article from the British Library
- Self-service printing and photocopying
Searching and enquiries
- Literature search or detailed enquiry work by library staff
Training
- Individual/one-to-one training
- Attendance at Library workshop
Subscription Membership Leaflet.pdf[pdf] 170KB
Our training
The training offered by the library is designed to enable you to get the maximum use of the information resources available. The workshops are delivered by local NHS librarians and each is accompanied by detailed handouts.
If you would like to attend one of our training courses please contact the library service and we will arrange a session for you. Sessions can be done face to face or via MS Teams.
Critical Appraisal: An Introduction
Not all evidence is equal! If you want to be confident with using published research you need to understand what it is telling you and be able to assess its quality. Our two critical appraisal skills courses can help you get to grips with the basics of this useful skill.
This course covers the basics of assessing the quality of research evidence. It looks at the different types of research studies you are most likely to come across, and will give you an introduction to some of the statistical terminology most commonly used in biomedical research such as ‘number needed to treat’ and ‘confidence intervals’.
The course also takes you through a checklist for critically appraising a randomised controlled trial. You do not need to have knowledge of critical appraisal or statistical techniques in order to attend.
Critical Appraisal: In Action
Not all evidence is equal! If you want to be confident in using published research you need to understand what it is telling you and be able to assess its quality. Our two critical appraisal skills courses can help you get to grips with the basics of this useful skill.
This is an interactive follow up session giving you the opportunity to appraise a randomised controlled trial, using the information learned in our introductory training. Course participants will undertake the appraisal as a group, facilitated by a Librarian. The paper will be circulated in advance, although time will be allowed for reading it on the day.This session is aimed at people who have previously attended ‘Critical Appraisal: an introduction’ or similar training.
Introduction to the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub
The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub is a single gateway that offers an easy to use interface for quick searches, as well as access to a huge variety of electronic content.
This short (30 minute) introduction will show you how to search the Hub, as well as how to access electronic journals, databases and other resources.
Literature Searching
This two-hour workshop provides an introduction to searching for published literature, showing you how to find journal articles on a subject from databases such as Medline. This course is a good starting point for those undertaking academic studies.
The workshop includes time spent practicing search skills with support from the course leader and requires that the participants already have a good working knowledge of how to use the Internet.
At the end of the course participants will be able to:
- Develop an effective search strategy for a research topic by identifying key concepts, search terms and synonyms
- Select an appropriate database for conducting a search
- Use the correct techniques for combining search terms
- Use the thesaurus to search the databases more effectively
- Save, email and print journal references retrieved
- Acquire the articles/documents in full text, either directly from the databases or from Library services
Please note: You will to need to bring your Athens password with you to access the databases for the practical parts of the course. If you don't already have one you can register online here, or contact the library if you think you might have an account but have forgotten the login.
The Pre-course Course
This course is aimed at NHS staff who are undertaking further study of some kind, whether it is a short course, a module, a full Masters or PhD.
This two hour session will help you up:
- Set up your library membership and OpenAthens account for access to online journals and databases
- Tackle reading lists and find the books you need
- Access full text electronic journal articles
- Use the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub, Trip database and Cochrane Library to search for evidence and guidelines and identify good quality information
Training in the Work Place
We can offer both introductory and update sessions lasting from ten minutes to one hour (or more) which can be can be delivered to groups at any location in the county. These sessions can be tailored to meet your needs and are ideal for a lunchtime, departmental meeting or a PLT session.
Standard two-hour workshops can also be tailored for particular groups and run as one-off sessions at any of the venues listed or other suitable venues around the county.
As long as we have a room with an internet connection, we can deliver our training practically anywhere. For further information, please contact one of the libraries.
Training venues and booking
Who: These sessions are free and open to all NHFT and NGH staff and attached students in Northamptonshire.
How to book: Contact the library of your choice. Your booking can usually be arranged over the phone immediately. Certificates of attendance are given to all course participants.
When: Our training sessions can usually be arranged to suit you.
Where: Training can be delivered via MS Teams, in the libraries or at any other suitable venue (as long as there is an Internet connection).
Books, journals and databases
The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub
The Hub is a single gateway that offers an intuitive search experience for quick searches (for literature searching you will need to use the individual databases).
On it you can find:
- Thousands of electronic journals that you can search or browse
- Basic, advanced and PICO searching options
- books and e-publications including the OUP handbooks
- one-click access to full-text articles, request a copy, or contact us
- clinical decision support tools such as BMJ Best Practice
- NICE pathways and guidelines
To access the Knowledge and Library Hub, go to http://library.nhs.uk/knowledgehub, click “Start your search” and log in with your OpenAthens account via the link at the top of the page.
We have also created a short guide to getting the most from the site: NHS Knowledge and Library Hub Quick Guide[pdf] 469KB
Books in stock
You can find all of our book stock on our catalogue by clicking here.
Our loans are mainly for 6 weeks, but for high demand items we do have some titles that are only available for 14 days.
You can renew any item up to three times without returning it to the Library, providing no one else has asked for it.
You will be guaranteed to keep an item for the initial 6 week or 14 day loan period but after that we can change the due date and ask you to return it earlier than expected if it has been requested by another user.
Very overdue items will be charged at the replacement cost and a £25 administration fee.
Managing your loans
When you register with the library you can log into the catalogue using the number on your library card. Just select the forgotten password option to set up your account. Once you have done that you can see your current and past loans, renew and reserve books and even create your own reading lists.
Items not held in stock (Inter-library loans)
NHS staff can request any book or journal article that we do not hold in stock and we will try to obtain it via our local, regional and national networks of NHS and academic libraries.
There is no charge for this service for NHS staff, but we may sometimes contact you if you have requested a loan we can only get from the British Library (who charge us for the service), to ensure the item you have asked for is essential.
We will process your request within one working day.
Students will need to request items we do not stock from their home institution.
Electronic Books
We have a large collection of books available to you electronically, which you can access from work or home (or anywhere else). The collection covers a variety of health information.
The easiest way to find our ebooks is to search our catalogue where you will find all our our titles and a link to access them.
You will then need to log in with your NHS OpenAthens password to access them.
We have also created an E-books Guide[pdf] 1MB to help with getting the best from the different platforms we use.
Clinical Key
Clinical Key contains over 1,100 of Elsevier's medical, surgical and health care related books including classic texts such as Kumar & Clark's Clinical Medicine (like all of our ebooks, you can also find them on our catalogue). You will need an Athens account to log in.
Find it online at www.clinicalkey.com.
To search for books simply change the drop down button in the search box from "All" to "Books"
There are a number of books available to you electronically, which you can access from work or home (or anywhere else). The collection covers a variety of health information.
The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical and Cancer Nursing Procedures
The 10th edition of the manual includes over 350 evidence-based clinical procedures related to every aspect of care, from hand washing to cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The manual gives clear instruction and rationale for the procedures, as well as linking to key documents.
The manual is available on-line at:www.rmmonline.co.uk.
You will then need to log in with your NHS Athens account (if you don't have one follow the self-registration link below to get a user name and password).
This will allow you too:
- View an alphabetical list of the procedures
- Browse the separate chapters of the manual
- Search for information
- View illustrations
- Access an on-line tutorial and help screens.
British National Formularies
The BNF and the BNF for Children are both also available online. No passwords are required from inside an NHS premesis, but if logging in from home you will need to use your NHS Athens account.
To access the BNF go to: https://bnf.nice.org.uk/
To access the BNFC go to: https://bnfc.nice.org.uk/
The combined BNF and BNFC is also available as an app for your smartphone or tablet. Visit the NICE Apps page by clicking here to find out more.
We have also created BNF and BNFC Quick Guide[pdf] 445KB if you need more help.
Databases
Searching databases will give you access to journal articles, conference papers and sometimes reports or books on specific subjects. If you need help with searching we offer training on how to use the databases effectively.
Databases available
There are a number of specialist databases available to NHS staff and students. You will need an OpenAthens password to access these databases. Many of the references also include a link to the full text of the journal article.
Just click the database title to access it.
AMED (Allied & Complementary Medicine Index)
Focuses on alternative and complementary medicine, holistic treatment, as well as allied health topics such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, speech therapy and rehabilitation.
BNI (British Nursing & Midwifery Index)
Mainly focused on British nursing issues although it also covers medical, health management and allied health fields relevant to UK nurses and midwives.
CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature)
Covers all aspects of nursing, midwifery and allied health. Many of the sources used are American.
EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database)
Covers all aspects of biomedical information, and is particularly strong in drug research and pharmacology. It has an emphasis on European sources of information.
EMCARE
Covers all aspects of nursing, midwifery and allied health, as well as management and public health.
HMIC (Health Information Management Consortium)
Containing both DH-Data and the Kings Fund databases, coverage includes official UK health policy documents and informally published literature from health and social care organisations, health service and hospital administration, as well as management.
MEDLINE
A vast source of medical information, covering the whole field of medicine including dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine and medical psychology.
ProQuest Health Research Premium Collection
A full text database covering all aspects of health care from medicine, nursing and allied health to family health, and healthcare management.
PsychArticles
Full text journals covering psychology, behavioural sciences and mental health from 140 publications with coverage going back as far as 1894.
PsycINFO (Psychological Information)
Provides extensive international coverage of psychology, psychiatry and allied fields.
Social Policy and Practice
A source of evidence-based social science research for policy-makers, practitioners, educators and students working within economic and social development, social administration, social services, and care management.
We have created some user guides on how to get started with literature searching, as well as a guide to each of the database platforms:
- Literature Searching - Getting Started.pdf[pdf] 351KB
- Literature Searching via EBSCO (Cinahl).pdf[pdf] 737KB
- Literature Searching via Ovid (Medline, Embase, Emcare, AMED, Social Policy & Practice, HMIC).pdf[pdf] 595KB
- Literature Searching via ProQuest (PsycInfo).pdf[pdf] 1MB
Clinical Key
Clinical Key can be used as both a point-of-care tool and for further in depth research. It contains over 600 full text journals, 1,000 eBooks and 1,800 topic pages. It also contains First Consult monographs with over two million videos and images (which can be used in presentations), patient information handouts and more. With an intuitive smart search interface that recognises clinical terminology, Clinical Key is a powerful and easy to use resource.
Access: www.clinicalkey.com
Password: OpenAthens
Other Health Related Databases and Search Engines
Ask DORIS (Database Of Research In Stroke)
A database of good quality evidence from the Cochrane Stroke Group.
Access: http://www.askdoris.org/tcd_t1.asp?opt=2
Password: None, but free registration required
A database of systematic reviews of the effects of social interventions covering topics such as social welfare, education, crime and justice.
Access: www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib
Pass word: None
A reliable source of evidence-based clinical information and practical 'know how' about the common conditions managed in primary and first contact care.
Access: http://cks.nice.org.uk/
Password: None
Cochrane Library
Regularly updated electronic library of systematic reviews (the ‘gold standard’ of evidence) of the effects of healthcare, healthcare technology assessments and economic evaluations of healthcare interventions. The full text versions of these systematic reviews are available.
Access: www.thecochranelibrary.com
Password: None
OAISter
A catalogue of free open access resources containing over 25 million records from 1,100 contributors including depositories from many major national and university libraries. All the content is available in full text.
Access: http://oaister.worldcat.org/
Password: None
OT Seeker
A database of high quality evidence for Occupational Therapy (systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials). All the trials have been critically appraised and rated. The site also features resources on evidence based practice, searching for information and critical appraisal in OT. It is produced by staff from two Australian Universities – Queensland and Western Sydney.
Access: www.otseeker.com
Password: None
PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database)
A database of high quality evidence for Physiotherapy (systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and guidelines). Most trials on the database have also been rated for their quality and there is a short tutorial available on evaluating the validity of clinical trials. PEDro is produced by the Centre for Evidence Based Physiotherapy in Australia.
Access: www.pedro.org.au
Password: None
Shaare Zedek Cancer Pain and Palliative Care Reference Database
A specialist database containing over 30,000 references (not full text) in relation to oncology and end of life care.
Access: www.chernydatabase.org
Password: None
Trip Database
Indexes Cochrane Reviews as well as information from over 100 more evidence-based resources, generalist and specialist journals as well as guidelines, eBooks, patient leaflets and medical images.
Access: www.tripdatabase.com
Password: None (but creating an account or signing in withTwitter or Facebook provides access to enhanced services and content)
Journals
The library service currently provides access to a large collection of journal titles, covering all aspects of medicine, health care, nursing, management, mental health and the allied health professions. These journals are available from anywhere with an Internet connection.
The easiest way to access all of our journal holdings is via the BrowZine site. BrowZine is an easy to use service that will allow you to:
- Search our journal holdings for specific titles
- Browse our journal subscriptions to see what titles we hold in your specialty / areas of interest
- Browse table of contents of our journals and link straight through to the full text of most articles
To access BrowZine follow the links below:
- Northamptonshire Healthcare staff follow this link: https://browzine.com/libraries/1776/
- Northampton General Hospital staff follow this link: https://browzine.com/libraries/1775/
We recommend you use BrowZine if you are searching for a particular journal title, however if you are doing a more general subject search you can use the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub search or an appropriate database.
We have created a Browzine User Guide[pdf] 782KB to help you get the most out of our electronic journals collections.
New books
Items we have added to stock recently:
New books October 2023.pdf [pdf] 153KB
New Books September 2023.pdf [pdf] 143KB
New Books August 23.pdf [pdf] 240KB
New Books July 2023.pdf [pdf] 186KB
New Books List June 2023.pdf [pdf] 219KB
New Books List May 2023.pdf [pdf] 283KB
New Books List April 2023.pdf [pdf] 253KB
New Books List March 2023.pdf [pdf] 203KB
New Books List February 2023.pdf[pdf] 148KB
New Books List January 2023.pdf [pdf] 299KB
Books on approval
We want to be sure that the books we buy are the ones that you actually need to support your work and learning and what we like best is when our users tell us what they need.
This is where our on approvals scheme comes in. Every two months our supplier sends us a selection of the latest health related titles which we make available for you to review and make suggestions for titles to puchase (or sometimes, to not purchase!).
You can find the on approval books at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries. Below is a list of the current titles available.
Books on Approval January - February 2020[pdf] 473KB
Point of Care
BMJ Best Practice draws on the latest evidence based research to offer step-by-step UK guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention. It also features procedural videos, calculators, drug information and leaflets for patients.
By registering for a personal account you can also use Best Practice to record CME/CPD activity for revalidation and you can access it offline via a free app for Android and iOS devices.
Go to https://bestpractice.bmj.com/ and log in with your OpenAthens account.
Useful resources and links*
Apps and mobile devices
To download the App for free simply click on the links below:
- NHS App The NHS App allows you to access a range of NHS services
- Google Play Apps Store Apps for smartphones and mobile devices running on the Android platform
- iMedical Apps The site reviews healthcare related apps and other mobile technology. Reviews are mainly written by clinicians. The apps reviewed are both those aimed at health professionals as well as those for patients. The site can be searched or browsed by medical speciality or mobile platform
- iTunes Apps Store Apps for smartphones and mobile devices running on the Apple iOS platform
- Windows Phone Apps Store Apps for smartphones and mobile devices running on the Windows platform.
Clinical, healthcare and other images
Links to sites providing clinical photographs, diagrams and other related images. While some images supplied may be licence-free, others will have strict conditions applied to their use. Please make sure you are fully aware of the terms of use for any image before downloading it.
- Anatomy Atlases Anatomy Atlases is a US based digital health sciences library providing free access to detailed anatomical images
- Centre for Disease Control Public Health Image Library
The CDC's photo library contacts photos, illustrations and multimedia files relating to public health medicine - Digitised Diseases
Taken from historical medical collections, the site gives examples of chronic diseases that affect the human skeleton that do not have directly observable physical changes in clinical practice. The site features high fidelity, photo-realistic digital representations of 3D bones that have been scanned and can be viewed and downloaded - Flickr
Flickr is a large, searchable photo sharing site with over five billion images. There are also a lot of clinical and health-related items available. The use of some content is allowed, while other images are more strictly licensed. Please ensure you check the conditions of any image you may wish to use - Free Images.co.uk
Free images is a high quality resource of general stock photographic images. All images in the collection are free to use on websites, printed materials and anywhere you need photos for illustration and design use - morgueFile
- A collection of general photographic images, freely available for both personal and commercial usage
- Pixabay
Pixabay offers free public domain, copyright-free photographs and images for use in any digital or print form without licensing or attribution - Wellcome Images
Contains themes ranging from medical and social history to contemporary healthcare and biomedical science. The biomedical collection holds over 40,000 high-quality images from the clinical and biomedical sciences. It covers disease, surgery, general healthcare, sciences from genetics to neuroscience including the full range of imaging techniques - YouTube
YouTube features thousands of video clips of health related content (although some are of variable quality).
Critical appraisal skills
- CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme)
- CASP aims to enable individuals to develop the skills to find and make sense of research evidence. The site provides access to critical appraisal tools (checklists) which guide the appraisal of different types of research (systematic reviews, qualitative, randomised controlled trials and more)
- Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
Established in Oxford as the first of several centres around the country whose broad aim is to promote evidence-based health care. The site contains a useful introduction to EBM, as well as downloads and EBM tools - Critical Appraisal Notes & Checklists
SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) have made a series of checklists available for assessing different types of research evidence, as well as providing notes on their use - Critical Appraisal of an RCT using CASP checklist
A useful playlist of 10 very short videos on how to critically appraise a randomised controlled trial from Barts Health Library and Knowledge Service - Health Knowledge Critical Appraisal E-Learning
These free e-learning modules take you through the process of how to assess the validity and reliability of the published research in order to provide effective and efficient healthcare - How to Spot Spin and Inappropriate Use of Statistics
Briefing from the House of Commons Library on how statistics are most commonly spun or used incorrectly, and what are some of the best ways to tell when this has happened - Understanding Health Research: A tool for making sense of health studies
A useful tool to help people understand and review published health research to decide how dependable and relevant a piece of research is - Understanding Research Evidence (videos)
A set of short videos from National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools explaining the important terms and key concepts you are likely to encounter when looking at research evidence. - What is Critical Appraisal?
An overview of critical appraisal produced by Bandolier, the evidence-based health journal from the University of Oxford.
E-Learning
Electronic learning offers a convenient way to expand your knowledge or learn new skills without having to attend any classes or lectures. It enables you to work at your own pace and to work through lessons several times if you wish too.
- Coursera
Offering over 1,500 online courses from institutions around the world including subjects such as health and medicine, clinical sciences as well as business, maths, and social sciences - Future Learn
Future Learn are owned by the Open University and offer a collection of hundreds of free online courses from universities and specialist organisations from around the world. Catagories available include health, science, business management and teaching - OpenLearn
OpenLearn is the Open University's free collect of elearning modules. It covers a broad range of subjects from health, science, maths and education to history, art, politics and culture. With over 800 free courses there is plenty to chose from. - Clinical: e-Learning for Healthcare
e-LfH is an NHS England programme providing high quality content free-of-charge for the training of NHS staff. It is interactive, and uses quality images, video, audio and animation to help trainees learn and retain knowledge. Content is presented using various templates such as 'real-life' scenarios, case studies and 'knowledge bites' - Clinical: University of Nottingham E-Learning Modules
A collection of Re-usable Learning Objects (RLOs), which are free short e-learning modules. Topic covered include nursing, midwifery, anatomy and pharamcology, as well as some non-clinical items - Clinical: e-VTE
An e-learning package designed to raise awareness and improve understanding of Venous Thromboembolism. The package has been developed by the Chief Medical Officer's VTE Implementation Working Group and is free to access - Postgraduate Medical Exams: eMRCS
Covers the MRCS Part A: Papers 1 and 2 and includes over 1,500 Single Best Answer and Extended Matching questions based on themes from previous exams. Registration is required and free access is available for 4 months. The site also has a specially designed section for use with smartphones - Postgraduate Medical Exams: MRCPass
- Covers the MRCP Part 1 and includes access to 500 free MCQs and MRCPass notes
- Postgraduate Medical Exams: MRCPsychmentor.com
Covers the MRCPsych Papers 1, 2 & 3. A subscription based site, but Demo mode provides access to MCQ?s and EMI?s, revision mode and timed tests. The site also has a specially designed section for use with smartphones - Postgraduate Medical Exams: Revise MRCP
Covers the MRCP and includes over 5000 questions, which can be viewed at random or on a subject-by-subject basis. You can also register (for free) and log in to record your progress, and the site is also available by smartphone.
Evidence based information sources
- BMJ Best Practice draws on the latest evidence based research to offer step-by-step UK guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention. It also features procedural videos, calculators, drug information and leaflets for patients.
- Campbell Library
A dababase of systematic reviews of the effects of social interventions covering topics such as social welfare, education, crime and justice - Cochrane Library
A regularly updated electronic library of several databases including systematic reviews (the "gold standard" of evidence) of the effects of health care, healthcare technology assessments and economic evaluations of healthcare interventions. Full text of the systematic reviews is available - Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
Established in Oxford as the first of several centres around the country whose broad aim is to promote evidence-based health care. The site contains a useful introduction to Evidence Based Medicine, as well as downloads and EBM tools - Doctors Net
The largest UK-based medical network providing a channel for communication, debate, free training resources and other useful features. Requires registration - Electronic Medicines Compendium
A dictionary of medicines & devices - Epistemonikos
A multilingual database of evidence-based health information and the largest collection of systematic reviews in the world. Epistemonikos offers a simple Google-style search, as well as a more sophisticated, advanced search feature - Evidently Cochrane
A blog sharing the latest evidence and reviews from the Cochrane Centre - NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries
A reliable source of evidence-based clinical information and practical 'know how' about the common conditions managed in primary and first contact care - The NNT
The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) offers a measurement of the impact of a medicine or therapy by estimating the number of patients that need to be treated in order to have an impact on one person. The site sets out to review the benefits and harms of medical interventions based on NNT evidence - OAISter
A catalogue of free open access resources containing over 25 million records from 1,100 contributors including depositories from many major national and university libraries. All the content is available in full text - OT Seeker
OT Seeker is database of high quality evidence - systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials for Occupational Therapy. It is produced by two Australian Universities - Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro)
PEDro contains high quality evidence including systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and guidelines and is produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy in Australia
Information for the public
The links below are to sites containing good quality information aimed at the public rather than health professionals.
- NHS UK
NHS UK provides high quality information aimed at patients and the public. It features an A-Z list of common conditions and their treatment, reviews of articles about new treatments published in the media, advice on healthy living and information about NHS services - NHS Information Service for Parents
The Information Service for Parents offers a series of emails and text messages for mums and dads. Once you've signed up, you'll receive messages tailored to your stage of pregnancy or your baby's age. They cover a range of topics, including your baby's development, preparing for labour, coping with sleepless nights, looking after your own health, choosing childcare, making sure you get the benefits you're entitled to and who's there to support you - Contact For Families With Disabled Chioldren
Provides support, advice and information for families with disabled children, no matter what their condition or disability - Embarrassing Problems
A site about health issues and problems that people may find difficult to talk about. It features guides, videos, and an A-Z of conditions as well as advice on how to talk to health professionals about difficult subjects - Health Talk Online
Share in more than 2,000 people's experiences of over 60 health-related conditions and illnesses. You can watch video or listen to audio clips of the interviews, and read about people's experiences. You can also find reliable information about specific conditions, treatment choices and support - Healthwatch Northamptonshire
Healthwatch is the independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public in Northamptonshire on health and social care services - List of Registered Medical Practitioners
The GMC's Medical Register is a list of doctors licenced to practice in the UK. There is also a separate register for GPs. Both lists are fully searchable, and free to use, and in addition to registration details, they also give any publically available fitness to practice history since 2005 - MindEd for Families
Information and links to resources on the mental health of children, young people and older adults. The site covers issue like parenting, memory problems, common mental health issues and more. It was developed by Health Education England. - Patient Info
This site aims is to provide non-medical people in the UK with good quality information about health and disease. It includes evidence-based information leaflets on a wide range of medical and health topics. It also reviews health and illness related websites and provides links to them from a comprehensive web directory. All information is produced by UK health professionals - Rise Above
Rise Above is a site about health and wellbeing aimed at young people. Produced by Public Health England, the site contains videos, stories, games and advice on physical and mental health, how to have difficult conversations and the issues young people face
Keeping up to date
These sites can help you stay up-to-date with news, developments and publications.
- Daily Health News
Produced by us and aimed at staff across the health economy, this daily blog of hand-picked items covers healthcare news, publications, policy announcements, information, media coverage and events in Northamptonshire and the UK. You can also subscribe to receive it by email - BBC Health News
Current health related news items - British Psychological Society Research Digest
The BPS's award winning blog on the latest psychological research (also available as a fortnightly email or RSS feed) - CASH: National Current Awareness Service for Health
CASH aims to provide a nationally-managed and coordinated current awareness service to ensure that all health care staff are kept up-to-date. They produce daily news bulletins covering the latest developments in UK healthcare - Centre for Mental Health
The Centre for Mental Health is a charity that works to improve the quality of life for people with severe mental health problems. - Current Awareness & Health Information Portal on Netvibes
The Library Service's Netvibes portal brings together constantly updating news and information on a wide range of health topics and makes it available on a single, easy to use site - Department of Health and Social Care News and Announcements
News stories and press releases from the DoH - Foundation of Nursing Studies
- An independent charity that works in partnership with nurses, midwives and health visitors to develop, promote and improve patient care
- JISCmail: Health Discussion Lists
A list of email discussion lists provided by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) that you can subscribe to, covering a wide variety of health-related topics - Library Services Blog
Our blog is designed to keep you up-to-date with the latest news from the Library Service, as well as covering other useful health-related information - NICE: Newsletters and Alerts
Subscribe to email alerts on topics of interest and a newsletter featuring new guidelines, plus related news and consultations
Local NHS organisations & services
- Cransley Hospice
- Cransley Hospice provides hospice and palliative care services for the population of north Northamptonshire
- Cynthia Spencer Hospice
Cynthia Spencer Hospice provides hospice and palliative care services for the population of south Northamptonshire - East Midlands Ambulance Trust NHS Trust
EMAS provides emergency 999, urgent care services for the 4.8 million people within Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. - Healthwatch Northamptonshire
Healthwatch is the new independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public in Northamptonshire on health and social care services - Integrated Care Northamptonshire
Integrated care is about giving people the support they need, joined up across the NHS, local councils, voluntary and community organisations, and other partners - Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Provides hospital services in the north of the county - Kettering General Hospital Library Service
The web site and catalogue for the KGH Library Service - Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership
- The site offers up to date and accessible information about safeguarding children in Northamptonshire
- Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
Provides hospital services in Northampton and for the south of the county - Who Looks After You?
A partnership project of carers’ organisations in Northamptonshire, NHS Northamptonshire, Nene Commissioning, Northamptonshire County Council and GPs that raises the profile of carers and caring with the general public, health and social care professionals and encourages carers to access information and support for their caring role.
NHS, UK government and statistics
- Campaign Resource Centre
The Campaign Resource Centre aims to provide a one-stop shop for all Department of Health public health campaign activities for anyone who works directly with the public. Each campaign section offers a summary of the campaign together with all the resources available to support it - Data.gov.uk
The site provides a free, single point of access to large amounts of UK government data (including healthcare and the NHS). Data can be browsed by tag, or searched. The site offers a Wiki for sharing ideas and problems, and there is also the powerful SPARQL feature, which allows users to construct their own queries to be run across the data stores - Department of Health and Social Care
The web site the Department of Health - GOV.UK
The place to turn to for the latest and widest range of public service and all government-related information - Health and Safety Executive
The HSC and the HSE are responsible for the regulation of almost all the risks to health and safety arising from work activity in Britain - Health Education England
HEE will ensure that the NHS and public health workforce has the right skills, behaviours and training, and is available in the right numbers, to support the delivery of excellent healthcare and drive improvements - List of Registered Medical Practitioners
The GMC's Medical Register is a list of doctors licenced to practice in the UK. There is also a separate register for GPs. Both lists are fully searchable, and free to use, and in addition to registration details, they also give any publically available fitness to practice history since 2005 - Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
The Executive Agency of the Department of Health protecting and promoting public health and patient safety by ensuring that medicines, healthcare products and medical equipment meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, performance and effectiveness, and are used safely - National Audit Office
The National Audit Office scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament - National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE is part of the NHS, and its role is to provide patients, health and social care professionals and the public with authoritative, robust and reliable guidance on current best practice - NHS Blood and Transplant Provides blood and transplantation service to the NHS, looking after blood donation services in England and transplant services across the UK. This includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of blood and blood components, organs, tissues, bone marrow and stem cells, and researching new treatments and processes.
- NHS Business Services Authority Prescription Information
This site contains information about the NHS prescription services - NHS UK
NHS UK provides high quality information aimed at patients and the public. It features an A-Z list of common conditions and their treatment, reviews of articles about new treatments published in the media, advice on healthy living as well as information about NHS services - NHS Digital
NHS Digital is England's central, authoritative source of health and social care information. It provides statistical and other other information and is the source of data for official statistics published by the Department of Health, Care Quality Commission and other bodies - NHS Email & Directory Service
A national directory of NHS people and organisations - NHS England
NHS England is responsible for designing the proposed commissioning landscape and developing its business functions. This includes agreeing the method for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) - NHS Health Careers
A comprehensive guide to all aspects of careers in healthcare. - Self Care Forum
The site aims to provide support to NHS staff and patient groups to encourage people to think about self-care and contains resources aimed at general practice to help with the implementation of self-care initiatives. There are case studies, reports, research, fact sheets and practical tips. NHS staff can also upload their own case studies - UK Health Security Agency
UKHSA is responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats, and providing intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage. - UK Statistics Authority
This is the UK's home of official statistics, reflecting Britain's economy, population and society at national and local level
Organisations
- Association for Perioperative Practice
Incorporating the National Association of Theatre Nurses, this site features news and publications, as well as educational resources for members - Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland
Representing the interests of over 8,000 anaesthetists in the UK & Ireland - Association of Clinical Scientists
Acts as a professional body representing all branches of Clinical Science in the UK - British & Irish Orthoptic Society
- Orthoptists are concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of ocular motility and problems relating to vision
- British Association of Occupational Therapists/College of Occupational Therapists
College of Occupational Therapists - British Association of Prosthetists & Orthotists
BAPO was established to encourage high standards of prosthetic and orthotic practice - British Dental Association
- The BDA develops policies to represent dentists working in every sphere, from general practice, through community and hospital settings, to universities and the armed forces
- British Dietetic Association
The British Dietetic Association, established in 1936, was formed to provide training and facilities for Dietitians - British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is a professional association of doctors, representing their interests and providing services for its 128,000 members. This includes nearly 4,000 from overseas and 14,000 medical students - Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
The professional, educational and trade union body for the UK's 40,000 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and assistants - College of Paramedics
The BPA (College of Paramedics) exists to support and develop the standing of the profession and to pursue the very best in education and continuing professional development - General Medical Council
- Regulates and registers doctors to practise medicine in the UK
- General Pharmaceutical Council
The regulatory body for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises in Great Britain - Health Professions Council
Regulates a number of the allied health professions - Healthcare Infection Society
The HIS covers all aspects of the prevention and control of healthcare associated infection - Institute of Biomedical Science
The professional body for biomedical scientists in the UK - Institute of Health Record Information & Management
Assistance for members working in the field of health records, information, clinical coding and related professions - Institute of Health Visiting
The aim for the iHV is to raise standards in health visiting practice, and in doing so to improve public health outcomes for all children, families and communities - Institute of Healthcare Management
IHM is a professional organisation for managers in healthcare. Its focus is on improving patient care through the promotion of excellence in management - King's Fund
The King's Fund is an independent charitable foundation - Nursing & Midwifery Council
The NMC regulates nurses and midwives in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Islands. It set standards for practice, education and conduct and deals with allegations of malpractice - Royal College of Anaesthetists
Its principal responsibility is to ensure the quality of patient care through the maintenance of standards in anaesthesia, critical care and pain management - Royal College of General Practitioners
The RCGP represents the interests of General Practitioners - Royal College of Midwives
The only professional organisation and trade union run by midwives for midwives - Royal College of Nursing
The RCN represents nurses and nursing, promotes excellence in practice and shapes health policies - Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The RCOG is dedicated to the encouragement of the study and the advancement of the science and practice of obstetrics and gynaecology - Royal College of Ophthalmologists
Contains details of the College's many activities, publications and guidelines as well as the latest news and events - Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health
The main objects of the College are to advance the art and science of paediatrics, improve standards of medical care to children, and to educate and examine doctors in paediatrics - Royal College of Pathologists
As well as information about the College, the site contains publications, e-newsletters and information for patients - Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
An independent professional membership organisation concerned with promoting the highest standards in internal medicine around the world - Royal College of Physicians of London
Aims to ensure high quality care for patients by improving standards and influencing policy and practice in modern medicine - Royal College of Podiatry The largest UK professional body and trade union for HCPC registered podiatrists
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
The online mental health resource - Royal College of Radiologists
Under the Charter the object of the College is to advance the science & practice of Clinical Radiology & Clinical Oncology. - Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists
This is the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists website - Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Dedicated to the maintenance and promotion of the highest standards of surgical practice - Royal College of Surgeons
The College is an independent professional body committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients - Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland
The main objects of the College are to advance the art and science of paediatrics, improve standards of medical care to children, and to educate and examine doctors in paediatrics - Royal Institute of Public Health
An independent organisation promoting public health and hygiene through education and training, information, quality testing and policy development - Royal Pharmaceutical Society
The professional body for pharmacists in England, Scotland and Wales - Royal Society of Medicine
The RSM is one of the largest providers of medical education in the country - Society of Radiographers
- Responsible for their professional, educational, public and workplace interests
- World Health Organisation
- The World Health Organisation is the United Nations specialised agency for health.
Research, education and training resources
- Cite This For Me
A free online resource that will create bibiolographies for you. It can create a reference for almost any type of item in a huge array of different styles (including Harvard) - Foundation of Nursing Studies
An independent charity that works in partnership with nurses, midwives and health visitors to develop, promote and improve patient care - Francis Crick Institute
The Francis Crick Institute is a biomedical research organisation, dedicated to understanding the scientific mechanisms of living things. It is a consortium of six of the UK's most successful scientific and academic organisations - the Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London and King's College London - Health Economics Research Centre
HERC performs applied and methodological research in health economics - Institute of Cancer Research
The site has information about the Institute as well as news, publications and downloadable leaflets - Medical Research Council (MRC)
MRC is the only public funding agency for medical research in the UK which covers the whole spectrum from basic research to applied activities - Midwives Information & Resource Service (MIDIRS)
Information relating to childbirth aimed at midwives - Research Design Unit for the East Midlands
- The RDS aim is to increase the volume and quality of successful grant applications. They provide expert advice to help local researchers to develop and design high quality research proposals for submission to national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research
- School for Health & Related Research (ScHARR)
ScHARR is a significant university-based concentration of health related resources in Trent and one of the most important in the UK - University of Northampton Library Catalogue
- The online catalogue of the University of Northampton, with links to reading lists and the Library's home page
- University of Northampton Nectar
The Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research (NECTAR) is an open access institutional repository for research produced by UoN staff and students including journal articles, books, conference papers and theses - University of Northampton Skills Hub
The Skills Hub has been developed by UoN Library & Learning Services to provide a resource for developing academic skills. The site features interactive tutorials (for example on Harvard referencing), information on practical skills like notetaking and critical thinking as well as videos and other library-related material. - Writing for publication
A selection of frequently asked questions from the NHS Knowledge for Healthcare Learning Academy. They include useful tips and links to helpful resources on planning, writing, peer review and how to make your research more visible.
Library leaflets
Please find below useful leaflet produced by the library service:
Electronic resources leaflet.pdf[pdf] 181KB
Subscription Membership Leaflet.pdf[pdf] 170KB
User guides
Please find downloadable user guides for a variety of library resources:
AHPs Day Resources Guide 2021 [pdf] 1MB
BMJ Best Practice Quick Start Guide [pdf] 3MB
BNF and BNFC Quick Guide[pdf] 445KB
Browzine User Guide[pdf] 782KB
Cochrane Library Guide[pdf] 777KB
EBSCO Mobile App Quick Guide June 23.pdf [pdf] 397KB
Journals A-Z Search Guide[pdf] 359KB
Literature Searching - Getting Started.pdf[pdf] 351KB
Literature Searching via EBSCO (Cinahl).pdf[pdf] 737KB
Literature Searching via ProQuest (PsycInfo).pdf[pdf] 1MB
NHS Knowledge and Library Hub Quick Guide[pdf] 469KB
OpenAthens Registration Guide[pdf] 156KB
Patient Information Sources Guide[pdf] 1017KB
Harvard References and Citations Guide - January 23[pdf] 341KB