Athens passwords for social care
Since the 1 November 2008 local authority social care staff in five regions and all London boroughs have been able to access a wide range of e-journals and databases free of charge as part of a sixteen month pilot. The pilot ended in March 2010 and we are about to roll out Athens access nationally initally for 1 year.
- About Athens
- The original pilot and beyond
- Resources and training
- Participating authorities
- Apply for an Athens account
- Login to your Athens account
- Contact
About Athens
The Athens Access Management System (AMS) controls access to web-based subscription services. The service has been in active use since 1996 in the UK higher education community, providing the means of controlling access to many centrally-funded web-based services. Athens has also been in use by the UK National Health Service since 2000 and is currently used to control access to NHS Evidence. Staff working with NHS patients are entitled to a password in order to access the NHS national core content collection. This is called the ‘Athens’ password.
To find out more about Athens visit the Athens website (external website).
The original pilot and beyond
In April 2008 the NHS national core content collection on the NHS Evidence became accessible to “Government funded bodies providing social care” and SCIE was asked to take on the password and account administration for the social care workforce that are now eligible to access and use the online collection. With the help of administrators in 6 regions in England, we ran a 16 month pilot (see list of participating regions) to assess takeup and usage.
The pilot officially ended on 31 March 2010, and we evaluated how it went. We have compiled a report and recommendations and senior management at SCIE have approved rolling out nationally, initially for 1 year. Watch space for further details on national roll out!
Resources and training
The NHS national core content collection, as you would expect holds resources which primarily have a health focus. However, there are already several social care related resources and SCIE has added a number of key social care e-journals.
- Journals available in full text with an Athens for social care password
- NHS Evidence content relevant to social care
- NHS Evidence content relevant to social care (38kb PDF file)
- User training section on the NHS Evidence website (external website).
- Taylor and Francis journals via informaworld (external website).
Including: Disability and Society Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties; Ethics and Social Welfare; European Journal of Social Work; Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law; Journal of Social Work Practice. - Cambridge Journals: Ageing and Society
- Oxford Journals: British Journal of Social Work
- Pier Professional journals; Advances in Mental Health and Learning Disabilities; Tizard Learning Disabilities Review.
Pilot participants
| Areas Covered | Types of worker included |
|---|---|
| East of England | |
| Bedfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Luton, Norfolk, Peterborough, Southend and Suffolk. | Social workers, OT's and business support |
| London (Metropolitan Boroughs) | |
| Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Westminster. | All social services staff |
North
West |
|
| Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cumbria, Halton, Knowsley, Lancashire, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham Metropolitan, Rochdale Metropolitan, Salford, Sefton, St Helens Metropolitan, Stockport Metropolitan, Tameside Metropolitan, Trafford Metropolitan, Warrington, Wigan Metropolitan and Wirral Metropolitan | Registered social workers, social care staff (e.g. social care workers, support workers, rehabilitation officers, service brokers, transition workers, senior practitioners, support, time and recovery workers, team managers, LA employed OTs, etc.), social care service development staff (e.g. researchers, development managers, Heads of Service). |
| South Central | |
| Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth, Reading, Slough and Southampton, South Gloucestershire, West Berkshire, Wiltshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham. | All social services staff in local authorities, including registered social workers, nurses, OTs, etc. |
South
East |
|
| Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, Kent, Medway, Surrey and West Sussex | LA Social work/care staff |
| West Midlands | |
| Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley MC, Herefordshire Council, Sandwell MBC, Shropshire County Council, Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke on Trent City Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Walsall MBC, Warwickshire County Council, Wolverhampton City Council and Worcestershire County Council.. | Social Workers registered with GSCC and employed by one of the local authorities listed, as evidenced by having a local authority email address. |
| National | |
| CAFCASS | Registered social workers |
Apply for an Athens account
If you think you are eligible for an Athens password, apply for an Athens account now. As part of this process you will be asked to login / register with Social Care Online before you can apply for an Athens account.
Login to your Athens account
If your local Athens administrator has issued you with your Athens account details, you can use these details to log into the NHS Evidence.
Contact
Diane Gwynne-Smith, Head of Knowledge Management, SCIE
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