Surf's Up 13 (2)

Google has recently added a new service to its stable - Google Answers . This aims to be an open forum where researchers ask questions from members of the public for a fee. Anyone can apply to be a researcher. Previous questions and answers are archived on the site so have a look and judge for yourself the quality and range of questioning and answering. Time will tell if it's a match for the various free online reference answering sources -including UK based Ask-A-Librarian provided by the massed ranks of the UK public library service reference desks.

The BBC has taken the plunge into websearching with BBCi Search. This has caused no little controversy amongst the commercial search engine providers and those who think that it's not part of the BBC's core remit. However I expect that it will be extremely successful - once people have found where it is on the cluttered BBCi homepage! It's simple and fast, provides UK focused searching as well as global searching, filters for undesirable content, accepts no paid listings or advertising and provides some 'BBCi recommended' sites for each search (editorially selected by the BBC as the best website to answer the query). It's built on Google's powerful search index and technology but the searching experience is different to Google UK, offering less of the advanced features.

There is a new version (April 2002) of the PubMed Tutorial available - l. Plenty of information on how to use this web based version of Medline. Note though that you will need a copy of Macromedia Flash player to see some of the animated diagrams.

Another new website from the Modernisation agency was launched in March - The National Primary and Care Trust Development Programme(NatPaCT). . The NatPaCT programme was set up to provide organisational development support to PCTs as part of the Shifting the Balance of power initiative. The site includes a news section, a library of useful websites, the organisational competency framework, an initiatives database and a discussion forum. The site is still developing but should provide a useful resource for the future.

Also worth remembering is the National Electronic Library for Health Hitting the Headlines resource. This is found on the front page of the NELH site in the top right hand corner. Staff from the NHS centre for reviews and dissemination (CRD) provide a rapid assessment of the original research behind recent high profile medical/scientific news stories and evaluate how accurately the journalists have reported the findings of the research. Previous stories are archived on the site too .

The Hi Quality website was launched in March 2002 by the Centre for Health Information Quality , a division of the Help for Health Trust and is designed to help raise standards in internet health information. The site helps you to assess the quality of health information, giving guidance and practical tips, so you can judge information credibility and quality for yourself. Hi Quality's three driving principles are that all health information must be accurate, clear and relevant. The ChiQ site also contains some information on the new Trianglemark service. The TriangleMark will only be shown when health information is of the highest quality and meets C-H-i-Q standards.

Research Councils UK is a new high-level strategy group established to enhance the collective leadership and influence of the Research Councils and secure greater strategic co-ordination in the funding of science. This group comprises the Chief Executives of the seven Research Councils, and the Director General of the Research Councils. The Research Councils UK website was officially launched on the 1st May . The site provides information on the work of this strategy group and also links to the seven research councils (including the Medical Research Council , Economic and Social Research Council and the Biotechnology & Biotechnology Sciences Research Council) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board).

New social care websites reflect the recent changes in that field. The General Social Care Council (GSCC) launched its website recently - giving information on social care workforce regulation. The Care Standards Commission also launched in April as a new, independent public body set up under the Care Standards Act 2000, to regulate social care and private and voluntary health care services throughout England. Three weeks later, the Secretary of State for Health announced that a new Commission for Social Care Inspection would be taking over it's role as part of it's expanded remit for inspection. However, until the new body is established the CSC will continue to regulate all of the services that fall under their remit and work with service providers to improve their quality.


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