NICE to support the NHS in gaining free trial access to medical research
1 May 2014 03:21 PM
NICE is participating in a year-long pilot trial
which aims to support the NHS in gaining free access to the latest high-quality
clinical and scientific research.
The
year-long pilot will make some of the latest research and trials published in
medical and scientific journals available to NHS staff across England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The
trial follows the publication of the government-commissioned Finch report, which recommended that the UK
should move towards a fully open access research environment. Among the
report's recommendations were that more research journals should be made
available to healthcare professionals.
To
address this, the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc) has signed an
agreement with a number of scientific journal publishers to provide free trial
access for their journals. Publishers who have agreed to take part include
AAAS, Annual Reviews, Elsevier, IOP Publishing, Nature Publishing Group, Oxford
University Press, Royal Society of Chemistry and Springer.
NICE will be overseeing the user access element of the
project, with a steering group that includes representatives from academic
institutions, Jisc, NHS Education for Scotland, and the NHS.
Moira Godbert-Laird, Associate Director for National
Commissioning and Contract Management at NICE, commented: "We are pleased
to oversee this trial which aims to bring the latest and best research and
evidence to healthcare workers.
"We believe the resources made accessible will
greatly help NHS staff in their roles."
Dr
Paul Ayris, Chair of the project steering group, said: "Practitioners in
the NHS will benefit from the content that is being made available in this
pilot, based on the recommendations of the Finch Report.
"Access to high quality information is key to good
clinical practice and patients can only benefit from the well-informed clinical
community that will result from this work."
Lorraine Estelle, Executive Director Content and
Discovery and Divisional Chief Executive of Jisc Collections, added: "Jisc
is committed to opening up research so that academics and clinicians can read
the latest studies and develop a broader understanding of disease and
treatment.
"This work is supported by the
government-commissioned Finch report into research availability which
recommended that more research journals be available to healthcare
professionals."