NEWS FEATURE Making a difference: opportunities within the NHS
Alison Day (
alison.day@
hee.nhs.uk) and Dominic Gilroy (
dominic.gilroy@
hee.nhs.uk), Workforce Planning and Development Leads, Knowledge for Healthcare, Health Education England, take a look at some of the opportunities available to information professionals within the NHS.
AT the end of May 2022, a quick scan of NHS Jobs1
shows over 15
vacancies for a variety of knowl- edge and library service roles in NHS services across England. These range from entry level positions such as a library assis- tant apprentice at £180 per week through to management roles leading a service, with salaries from £40k.
Ever more specialised job roles are appearing – Evidence Specialist, Knowledge Management Specialist, Digital Education Developer alongside the more familiar roles of Library Assistant, Liaison and Outreach Librarian. Post-pandemic health librar- ies are a vibrant and exciting place to be, so why are there vacancies? In 2021 alone, 15 new roles for qualified library and information professionals were created within Primary Care Training Hubs2
across
England. Set up as a vanguard, knowl- edge specialists within these roles ensure that healthcare staff working across primary care are all connected to, and can use, high-quality knowl- edge and evidence resources and services.
This initiative is just one of the ambitious areas of work led by Health Education England (HEE), outlined in Knowledge for Healthcare3
which
expresses the strategic vision that: “NHS bodies, their staff, learners, patients and the public use the right knowledge and evidence, at the right time, in the right place”. The health service relies upon access to sound evidence and effective use of organisational knowledge to make informed decisions which impact upon the quality of care and health- care outcomes for patients. As of April 2021, there are 633 whole time equiv-
14 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
alents (wte) qualified library and knowl- edge specialist staff based in 177 services across the NHS in England. The majority of these are based within hospitals where they provide resources and services to all staff and learners. Roles are varied, often taking services outside of the library space, working alongside clinical and non-clinical healthcare staff to ensure they have the evidence they need for decisions at the point of care.
Workforce mapping by HEE predicts that a minimum of 40 qualified library and knowledge specialist roles will become available within healthcare per annum for the next 10 to 15 years. This is partially based upon data showing that 42 per cent of the existing workforce is expected to have reached the minimum retirement age within the next five years4
.
In addition, it is expected that further roles will be required in different settings. To ensure equitable access to knowledge and library services more roles will be required within primary care, extending the vanguard to the 42 Primary Care Train- ing Hubs. It is anticipated that emerging Integrated Care Systems will need access to high quality evidence to inform policy for place-based care planning and delivery. They will benefit from the expertise of knowledge specialists to fulfil obligations within the Health and Care Act to promote innovation, “to use in the health service… evidence obtained from research” and promote education and training5
.
highlighted the need to increase “clinician, scientist, technologist and knowledge specialist posts” to implement and use digital, AI and robotic technolo- gies to benefit patients.
Growth is also anticipated with HEE recommending NHS employers increase
The demand for knowledge specialist roles will continue to grow as opportuni- ties within digital transformation emerge. A recommendation within the 2019 Topol Review6,7
their staffing ratios to employ one qualified knowledge specialist for every 1,250 of healthcare staff8
. If
this were to be implemented in full this equates to an additional 294wte new knowledge specialist posts across the NHS in England.
There are great career opportuni- ties within the health service with a fabulous package of developmental support delivered via the CILIP accredited Knowledge for Healthcare Learning Academy9
. What people
value most, however, is the ability to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Information You can find out more about a career within NHS Knowledge and Library Services by visiting NHS Careers.
Louise Goswami, Ruth Carlyle and colleagues representing NHS Knowl- edge and Library Services will be speaking at CILIP Conference, which takes place on 7 and 8 July in Liver- pool, or you can speak to Alison and colleagues at the CILIP HLG stand10
Book your place now at
www.ciliipconference.org.uk.
References 1. NHS Jobs
www.jobs.nhs.uk/
2. HEE Training Hubs
www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/training-hubs
3. HEE 2021, Knowledge for Healthcare www.hee.nhs. uk/our-work/knowledge-for-healthcare
4. Data from internal HEE workforce survey 2019
5. Health and Care Act 2022
https://bills.parliament.uk/ bills/3022
6. Health and Care Act 2022, 14Z39 – 14Z41
7. The Topol Review: Preparing the healthcare work- force to deliver the digital future
https://topol.hee.nhs.uk/
8. HEE Policies: Staff Ratio Policy
https://library.nhs.uk/ staff-learners-and-employers/policy/
9. Knowledge for Healthcare Learning Academy
https://library.hee.nhs.uk/learning-academy
10. NHS Careers
www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/ health-informatics/roles-health-informatics/knowledge-and-li- brary-services
June 2022
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