Social media applications within the NHS: role and impact of organisational culture, information governance, and communications policy

The paper focuses on health professionals’ attitudes to and use of Web 2.0 and social media within their practice and on the management of access to Web 2.0 and social media applications within NHS organisations. It discusses the following specific issues: 1) the nature and extent of restrictions on access to such applications within NHS organisations arising from organisational policies; 2) their impacts on professional information seeking and sharing, and working practices in general; 3) the attitudes, professional norms, presuppositions and practices which bear on how social media policy is implemented within NHS trusts, in relation to overall organisational strategies. There is a need to develop a better understanding of, on the one hand, a clear need for robust information governance and network security, with, on the other hand, systems and procedures that enable appropriate access to valid online resources to support professional information needs. Particular questions that need to be addressed include: Why are restrictions imposed on access to Web 2.0 or social media-based information resources, or technologies to support professional information seeking? What issues for the accessibility of information within the English NHS are posed by current approaches to information governance risk