Welcome to the Libraries & Collections support pages for NHS staff.

Libraries & Collections can help you with:

• finding materials (books, journals and more) relevant to your CPD, research and patient care
• using our online resources
• learning skills in handling evidence

If you need any help, feel free to contact us.

Remember to sign-in with your NHS Open Athens account to get quick access to full text. Click the yellow banner at the top of the page once you have done your search.

Healthcare evidence and knowledge now a simple search away

The new NHS Knowledge and Library Hub brings together a vast range of databases, journals, NICE guidance and other support tools in one place.  

It is the easiest way to access thousands of ejournals, clinical decision support tools such as BMJ Best Practice and healthcare literature databases.  Some ebooks are already available with more to be added (see the ebooks tab in this guide for the full selection)

You must login to the Hub with NHS OpenAthens to get full access (including if you use the embedded search box on this page).   

ebook options via Kortext

We are growing our collection of ebooks available via Kortext. Our largest collection remains on Ebook Central Platform (OpenAthens required) and there are hundreds of key titles via Oxford University Press (OpenAthens or login free from GSTT PCs).

The latest additions cover sustainability.  Check them out via https://read.kortext.com/ you will need your OpenAthens. Click the Collection tab to see the all the books.  Titles range from the personal "50 Ways to Help the Planet" to the corporate "Toward sustainable transitions in healthcare systems".  For a full list (with links see this page)  Suggestions for new titles are welcome (library@kcl.ac.uk). 

See more details of all the options on our ebook page.

Uplifting reads 

A small collection of uplifting reads chosen by NHS staff has been added to stock at the Weston Education Centre Library (but you can pick them up via your nearest library).  There is a growing collection of uplifting resources being collected and you can see the selected titles on this webpage.

Maudsley Prescribing guidelines

This key resource for mental health is now available on Wiley Online (NHS OpenAthens required). 

Social Policy and Practice Databases now via Ovid

Social Policy and Practice brings together data from the following 5 leading collections of social policy and practice resources:

• AgeInfo - Centre for Policy on Agein
• NSPCC - National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
• Planex - IDOX Information Service
• Social Care Online - Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
• ChildData – National Children’s Bureau (NCB) 

It is available to search via the Ovid interface (type your Trust name and login with OpenAthens) or access via the Hub,

Free BNF and BNFC apps 

Both the BNF and BNF for Children apps are available to download for free by anyone working for the NHS.  Students on an NHS funded course or on placement in the NHS are also eligible.  The apps are available for Android and iPhone devices.  NHS OpenAthens is no longer required. 

The BNF and BNFc can also be accessed online from NICE

Find out about more apps on the Clinical Resources tab of this guide.

Access to e-Learning for Healthcare

All OpenAthens account holders now have access to a large set of elearning resources from Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH).

HEE e-LfH’s programmes cover subjects from audiology to anaesthesia, dentistry to dermatology, electronic fetal monitoring to end of life care, primary care to prescribing, safeguarding children to statutory and mandatory training. All content is nationally quality-assured and available 24/7. There is also a new Introduction to Critical Appraisal available.

For more information about accessing e-LfH resources via OpenAthens see their Getting Started help information.

​Ebooks from Oxford

You can access the full collection of Oxford University Press ebooks in health via Oxford Medicine Online.  So every Oxford Handbook, Oxford Textbook, Emergencies in, Oxford Desk References whenever you need it. And online offers additional possibilities so the Oxford Textbook of Medicine was updated in February and includes extra chapters, videos and so on. You can download high quality images for your power point slides.  Login free access is available via IP on GSTT and King's College London Library PCs, via the Kwiki ebooks page at KCH or via OpenAthens from anywhere.

To login via OpenAthens - go to the Oxford Academic Books homepage click on the "Sign in" icon and then "Sign In through your Institution".  At this point you need to identify yourself as being part of "NHS England" by either typing into the list or selecting the option when offered if you have accessed the site before.  You will then be prompted for your OpenAthens login.