Government initiatives in the UK National Health Service have led to national and local IT developments. Information for Health (1999) and the National Programme for IT in the NHS (2002) have brought about the wide spread use of electronic communication technologies by NHS staff.
Building on these developments the Knowledge Access Project (KA24) is a two-year co-operative project between IT and the library and information services in eight sectors of the NHS. It provides all health care staff with electronic access to bibliographic databases, full-text journals and books twenty four hours a day, seven days a week whether at work, home or in an internet café.
Healthcare libraries locally promote the KA24 service, registering and training NHS staff in their organisations. To complement this and reflect the use of electronic library and information services outside the physical library a central electronic helpdesk was set up, staffed by the Electronic Resources Project Team.
One person now runs the helpdesk with back up from colleagues during office hours, Monday to Friday. All NHS staff and staff from organisations providing a service to the NHS are eligible to use the electronic helpdesk anywhere at any time. The KA24 project website (http://www.hilo.nhs.uk/ka24rev.htm) provides access to the helpdesk through online forms and an email address. These modes of communication are linked to a list of Frequently Asked Questions also on the website.
There are two types of online forms. Health care workers can register for the KA24 service using online registration forms or complete a help form for assistance with user name and password problems. The email address can be used for other types of queries. The aim is for all requests to be dealt with within forty-eight hours. Registration forms are forwarded to appropriate healthcare libraries for processing, user name/password authentication problems investigated and email queries answered on an individual basis.
Statistics are being kept on how frequently the helpdesk is being used and the type of queries received. These will track the demand for a helpdesk service, highlight recurring problems and help with future developments. So far statistics show a steady demand for the service.
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