An Information Broker as a member of a Health Service Planning Unit

A health service strategic planning division had difficulty obtaining information needed to support health care improvement projects, despite the availability of library and data systems. The post of ‘information broker’ was devised and set up as a two‐year experimental project under a special grant; the broker working as a member of the planning team and charged with relating to existing information services and promoting information flows. The workload fell into two main categories: information support to specific planning projects, and information support in general to the planning team, the latter category comprising a current awareness service and the development of structures to provide communication. The broker's services were less effective in the area originally defined by the planners as of their greatest need and more effective in areas where information gaps had not been specially noted. The original concept is now being reshaped.