Ever wondered exactly why gangrene is green or how a lobotomy works? No, we haven’t either, but if the wonderful world of medicine is your cup of tea, the NHS has got you covered.

The 10 January saw the launch of the new ‘single search environment’ on the National Library for Health website. The search amalgamates the national and local resources of 500 NHS libraries across England. Dr Muir Gray, Secretary to the National Knowledge Service and Co-Director of the National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) said: “There are over 80,000 articles on bronchitis alone in just one source: PubMed, Doctors and librarians need to be able to power search such electronic resources alongside traditional sources to find the articles that are relevant to them… to deliver critical information to clinicians quickly.”

The software (handily open for public access) searches websites, full journals and ‘physical resources’, making information access even quicker for time-starved medics, concerned parents and hypochondriacs everywhere. The search results are easy to navigate, divided into ‘Guidance’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Clinical databases’, ‘Journals and Books’ and ‘For Patients’ so there is a little something for everyone. The NHL website is hoped to be able to provide an integrated resource of up to the minute information for all NHS staff. Anything to cut waiting times.