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Background: The lack of robust research measuring the impact of NHS based information skills training prompted the West Midlands Regional Trainers' Forum to conduct a post-training survey. Methods: This is a multi-centred study which collected data from over 60 separate organisations. Survey questionnaires were completed by learners a few weeks after the training event.Results: Five hundred and thirty-four responses were received. 82% of information skills training recipients indicated that they had implemented learning or changed practice as a result of the training. 70% of recipients indicated there had been an impact on patient care. Discussion: The beneficial results from information skills training manifest in a multitude of ways. The results of this study indicate that the learning from information skills training is being used to reduce problems and address the key issues in modern health care. Conclusion:The results clearly demonstrate the value of information skills training and its beneficial impact on patient care, lifelong learning and other key NHS functions. This study shows information skills training as an important activity which supports the information literacy agenda, and has a positive impact across the four key functions of library and knowledge services within the NHS.

The discharge summary (DS) is a document that contains the diagnosis, comorbidities, procedures, complications, and future treatment plan for a particular patient after an inpatient hospital stay. The DS is completed by junior medical staff and is delivered to the general practitioner (GP). DS completion is time consuming and tedious, and DSs are usually not completed within the recommended time frame after a patient is discharged. Time spent completing DSs correlate to junior doctor overtime, which costs the hospital money in overtime pay.Information that is required in the DS is generally already entered into numerous electronic information systems in the hospital, including the “electronic patient journey board” which lists all the patients in a given ward with their clinical information. This information is constantly updated by all staff in the hospital. A program was developed that transferred this information directly into the patient DS. Ten junior doctors in two departments kept daily records for one week of the time spent compiling DSs, the time at work and the actual overtime claimed, before and after the introduction of the intervention.The mean (± SD) time for DS compilation per week reduced by 2.8 (± 2.4) hours from 10.0 (±3.5) hours (p<0.01) and the mean overtime worked per week reduced by 2.8 (± 3.1) hours from 8.5 (± 4.4) hours (p<0.05). The mean overtime claimed reduced by 1.8 (± 2.8) hours from 5.3 (± 5.4) hours per week (p<0.05), resulting in reduction in mean overtime payment of $114.95 from $290.57 per doctor, per week. Extrapolating to the 60 ward based junior doctors, the potential annual savings for the hospital budget are over $350,000. Additionally, the number of DSs completed within 48 hours increased from 45% to 58%.In summary, the transfer of electronic data from the electronic patient journey board to the discharge summary program has yielded improvements in DS completion rates and overtime worked by medical staff, resulting in significant reduction in overtime costs.