Skip to Main Content

Knowledge & Library Hub

Searching: Health and Care Evidence

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.

What is the Knowledge and Library Hub?

Image advertising the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub, use it to locate databases

The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub connects NHS staff and learners seamlessly to a range of high quality knowledge and evidence resources all in one place.

The Hub offers an intuitive search experience for quick searches and options for in-depth searches.

On it you can find:

  • over 14,000 journals
  • books and e-publications including OUP handbooks (see the link to Oxford Medicine below for the full collection)
  • one-click access to full-text articles or request a copy 
  • clinical decision support tools such as BMJ Best Practice and DynaMed
  • NICE pathways and guidelines
  • databases like Medline, EMBASE and CINAHL - discover links to these under the 'In- Depth Searching' column towards the bottom of the homepage.

Find out more in our NHS001 Rapid access to evidence-based resources workshop. 

Image showing where to log into the Hub

“Introduction to the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub” video

Advanced database searching

woman with laptopSome staff and learners need to carry out complex, robust and reproduceable searches including for systematic review and informing research. These advanced searches should be conducted directly in bibliographic databases such as Medline, Embase and CINAHL (rather than simply using the Hub main search).

Databases are collections of resources such as journal articles and conference papers, and also sometimes book chapters and reports.

Access the AMED, BNI, CINAHL, Embase, Emcare, HMIC, Medline and Social Policy and Practice databases via the links on the Hub under the column headed: In-depth searches.

Find out more at our NHS002: Healthcare databases for Advanced Searchers workshop

When searching using the databases the NHS provides access to you will find links to the full text of articles when you look at your search results.  If there is no link then you should see if it is available via the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub. 
Some full text database platforms available to NHS staff (Proquest and Ebsco) may not work when logged in to King's College London computers due to authentication issues. Please try using a Private or Incognito browser to access the Hub or database resources if you are seeing an error message. 

All King's College Hospital staff can request one of their Clinical Support Librarians to undertake an evidence search on their behalf to find journal articles and evidence to support patient care, clinical practice, quality improvement projects or guidance development.

Tips, guides and support