Equity of access: can consortia and clinical knowledge programmes truly address the imbalance? An Australian view

A number of clinical knowledge programmes have been implemented by several states and one territory in Australia with the shared aim of providing an electronic library of health information to professionals within the clinical setting. These programmes supplement library initiatives that have resulted in the formation of consortia for the purchase of certain electronic resources and other cooperative ventures that aim to redistribute the costs associated with the provision of clinical information. A review of the literature was conducted, and the World Wide Web was searched. The information obtained was substantiated with data gathered from informal conversations and semistructured interviews. An overview of one consortium and five clinical knowledge programmes is provided in terms of its development and administration. These initiatives have unequivocally improved the availability of clinical information resources for eligible institutions. However, not all health organisations have been able to benefit from these ventures. While membership in some consortia is open to all organisations involved in the health industry, eligibility for access to these six initiatives is more strictly defined. Access to licenced knowledge resources provided by these initiatives, in most cases, is restricted to public health institutions funded by the relevant state or territory government. Organisations ineligible to access resources provided by these initiatives must therefore look to consortia as a means of providing access to electronic resources, if their budgets allow. While not providing the complete solution, consortia and clinical knowledge programmes provide a good foundation for addressing the inequity of access to health information.