Draft National Service Framework and Standards

Sue and I are pleased to announce that the draft National Service Framework and Standards are available on the ‘for librarians’ web pages. Over the summer we will lead the piloting of the standards and the outcome will refine the content, presentation and usability. Also the outcome of the NHS Libraries Review will further refine the two documents. It is expected that the NSF and standards will be formally published in January 2008.

Also described are the work streams that enable the development and delivery of a quality knowledge service including performance, costs and customer engagement.

http://www.library.nhs.uk/forlibrarians/servicedevelopment/modernisation

With Regards

Colin Davies

Sue Lacey Bryant

National Library for Health

NKW for Age Related Macular Degeneration: 18-24 June 2007

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the commonest causes of certifiable visual impairment in the UK. There have been significant developments recently in our understanding of its underlying cause; in the options for therapeutic and surgical intervention; and in detection and diagnosis through emerging technology for retinal imaging; all of which have transformed the clinical management of a patient with AMD.

The AMD National Knowledge Week serves to provide a collection of the evidence and information on these recent developments in the clinical management of AMD. This is presented through a number of topic summaries reflecting aspects of the care pathway, including the patients’ perspective. Each summary is presented with on-line links wherever possible to cited references for current evidence and new knowledge (systematic reviews, primary research, and patient information). Printable versions of topic summaries are available, and of all the Specialist Libraries, the Eyes and Vision Specialist Library uniquely provides a low vision accessible web version of its NKWs.

Topics covered by the AMD NKW include:

Epidemiology - Dr Jennifer Evans

Genetics – Mr Andrew Webster

Emerging technology: Retinal imaging for diagnosis - Ms Samantha Mann

• Ocular coherence tomography (OCT)
• Auto-fluorescence (AF)

Developments in treatment:

• Therapeutic intervention : anti-VEGF therapy - Mr Yit Yang
• Surgical intervention : macular translocation – Mr Lyndon da Cruz

Low vision aids and AMD - Jane Macnaughton

Living with AMD - Macular Disease Society / EVSL Management Team

Freely available from 18^th June 2007: www.library.nhs.uk/eyes

National Knowledge Week on Diabetic Retinopathy: 11-16th June 2007

The Diabetes Specialist Library published the first NKW for Diabetic Retinopathy in June 2006 which consisted of a systematic up-to-date review of the literature for Diabetic Retinopathy. The second NKW for Diabetic Retinopathy will provide and update to include any pertinent literature published in the intervening 12 months, which will be highlighted as new.

The updates consist of evidence that has been selected using rigorous criteria and organised on the basis of hot topics suggested by acknowledged experts. Each topic section contains user friendly summaries written by the experts, presented with links to the evidence, guidelines and patient information.

The National Knowledge Week for Diabetic Retinopathy will be launched during 10 – 16 June 2007 to coincide with National Diabetes Week and will be presented in the Diabetes Specialist Library at:

www.library.nhs.uk/diabetes freely available from 10^th June 2007.

National Knowledge Week on Homeopathy: 11-15 June 2007

The Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Specialist Library has organised a Homeopathy Awareness Week organised by the Society of Homeopaths.
The Homeopathy NKW aims to present a comprehensive collection of up-to-date information that has been subject to rigorous selection criteria. We have carried out searches in a number of databases. The searches covered the period from 1 January 2001 to 1 April 2007 and aimed to identify all systematic reviews published since the HTA report on Homeopathy (2002).
The content includes a series of clinical commentaries on specific medical conditions written by a panel of experts and a list of all systematic reviews, meta-analyses and HTA reports published in the last six years.