Mobilising evidence Sharing knowledge Improving outcomes

1. Mobilising evidence
Sharing knowledge
Improving outcomes
Sue Lacey Bryant
Chief Knowledge Officer
NHS England
Evidence, Innovation and Connections

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“There is strong
evidence that
kind and
compassionate
care leads to
better patient
outcomes.”
Dr Bob Klaber
Imperial College
https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/about-us/blog/how-acts-of-kindness-
can-improve-care-and-strengthen-teams

3. 60% of care, on
average, is in line with
evidence or
consensus-based
guidelines
30% is some form of
waste or low value
10% is harm
The healthcare paradox
60% 30% 10%
https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-020-01563-4

4. Healthcare is knowledge intensive
“It is not enough to have the right teams in the right place,
collaborating to deliver high quality, efficient patient care.
It is also essential that they use the right knowledge and
evidence at the right time.”
Knowledge for Healthcare 2021-2026

5. Mobilising evidence and knowledge: connecting the dots

6. 720,000 healthcare
staff use our combo of
nationally provided
digital knowledge
resources and locally
provided NHS library
and knowledge
services each year.
The NHS has 177 NHS
knowledge and library
services in Trusts
1,000 WTE - specialist
staff – all upskilled in
recent years in
knowledge management
(KM); digital skills
and health literacy
NHS Knowledge and library services in England
720,000 177 1,000

7. Knowledge specialists take
the ‘heavy lifting’ out of getting
evidence into practice, giving
clinicians the Gift of Time,
accelerating access to high
quality evidence.
This allows the NHS to meet
its duty to use evidence from
research, and the workforce
to use time effectively.
The Gift of Time made by local knowledge teams
Plus the cost benefits of putting
evidence into practice
Value Proposition: The Gift of Time’, HEE/
Economics by Design, 2020
Value Proposition: The Gift of Time’, HEE/ Economics by Design, 2020

8. Local knowledge specialists can take the
‘heavy lifting’ out of getting evidence into
policy and practice and release time for
healthcare professionals.
Where library and knowledge services
provide evidence searching and summarising
services, the cost-effectiveness ratio is 1:3.85
Productivity comes ​from putting knowledge ​in the hands of those who need it.
Productivity
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15323269.2022.2124772

9. The national collection of digital resources
https://library.nhs.uk/knowledgehub/
“It meets my needs. It’s as good as any
search engine we use. It’s my go-to one
because I can get direct access to an article.”
Occupational Therapist

10. Get the answers you need anywhere, any time
BMJ Best Practice
10
“I use BMJ Best Practice summaries every day I
work. It is a quick, up to date, well referenced
guide - perfect for GPs. I would struggle without
access as I really feel it improves my clinical
knowledge and benefits patients”.
Dr Charlotte Reynolds, GP,
Leeds

11. A tool designed to help NHS
organisations, directorates and teams
assess and prioritise opportunities to
better harness evidence and
organisational knowledge and agree
as action plan.
Use the Knowledge Mobilisation Self-Assessment Tool
How well do you mobilise knowledge as an asset?
https://library.nhs.uk/employers-leaders/knowledge-as-an-asset/

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Sharing
knowledge.
Let’s only make
new mistakes!
https://library.nhs.uk/employers-leaders/mobilising-knowledge/

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I would recommend
everyone to learn about this.
It has changed my staff
meetings and significant
event analyses, the non-
judgemental approach
supporting a no blame
culture - not bad for 4 simple
questions I learnt in under
20 mins
After Action Review
Dr Farzana Hussain FRCGP

14. Learning Health Systems
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The Role of Health Education England Knowledge and Library Services in Supporting
Learning Health Systems.
https://library.nhs.uk/our-work/supporting-learning-health-systems/
"Knowledge and library services are
the heart of knowledge management
within the NHS and that position can
be leveraged to support local,
regional and national Learning
Health Systems"
Dr Tom Foley

15. Their work:
• strengthens decision-making by practitioners and teams
• strengthens the Service at strategic and policy level
• strengthens the performance of healthcare organisations
In order to:
• improve patient outcomes and safety
• inform treatment options
• reduce unnecessary interventions
• shape policy, guidelines and practice
• underpin education and lifelong learning
• enable shared decision-making
• facilitate research and the spread of innovation
Supplying the evidence base and connecting teams
Where do local knowledge specialists make an impact ?
15

16. #amilliondecisions
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/lks
“NEL Primary Care Knowledge Specialist
provides fantastic evidence search
support. I would like this to be used by
commissioners and practitioners to better
inform patient care, service development
and education”
Dr. Rofique Ali
PCN1 Clinical Director, GP Partner,
Educator
North East London

17. We lead on planning and developing the specialist
knowledge and library service workforce.
Preparing for the future
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AI is reshaping the ways teams create,
discover, share and use information.
We expect the emergence of new roles
and responsibilities for knowledge
specialists working alongside clinical
teams and health informaticians.
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/knowledge-for-healthcare

18. Online and mobile search
Systematic review
Analysis and content mining
Knowledge
Services
Users
Smart spaces
Collections and stock management
Automation of routine processes
New ways to interact with users
New information-seeking behaviours
Algorithmic and data literacy
Ethics
&
values
Where will knowledge services apply emerging technologies?
https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/researchreport

19. The many ways Knowledge Services can
contribute to the sustainability agenda
What about the environmental cost?
• Building sustainability into their strategy, policy and
marketing initiatives
• Developing services that are digital by default,
providing online access to knowledge resources
• Procuring “eco-friendly” materials
• Managing waste: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
• Working with local estates teams to use water and
energy from renewable sources efficiently
• Influencing the design of “green” library buildings
• Working in partnership with other organisations to
raise awareness and reduce duplication of effort

20. Commissioned from the University of
Southampton by the national NHS Knowledge
and Library services team
http://healthliteracy.geodata.uk/
Percentage of people in Redbridge who
struggle:
With words – 50.53%
With words and numbers – 68.93%
Borough-level geodata to understand the scale of the issue
Health literacy is a health inequalities issue
http://healthliteracy.geodata.uk/

21. 2 million households in the UK
are struggling to pay for
broadband.
43% of adults (18-65) in
England do not have adequate
literacy skills to routinely
understand health information.
10.9 million people in the UK
lack the basic skills do
participate in the digital world.
61% of adults (18-65) in
England do not have adequate
numeracy skills to routinely
understand health information.
Digital and social determinants of ill health
2 million 43%
10.9 million 61%
https://www.datapovertyappg.co.uk/news/the-data-
poverty-appgs-second-state-of-the-nation-report
https://library.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/08/Health-literacy-how-
to-guide.pdf

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“The application of
what we know already
will have a bigger
impact on health and
disease than any drug
or technology likely to
be introduced in the
next decade.”
Sir Muir Gray
The first person to hold the post of Chief
Knowledge Officer of the NHS (England),

23. Thank You
@nhsengland
company/nhsengland
england.nhs.uk
Via e-mail: Sue.Lacey-Bryant2@nhs.net
On Twitter: @SueLaceybryant @NHSKFH
Via LinkedIn: in/sue-lacey-bryant
Via website: library.nhs.uk