Copyright Guidance

What is Copyright?

Copyright exists to support the rights of creators. It promotes creativity and innovation by providing a level of protection and compensation for their valuable work. By obtaining a copyright licence, we are respecting the rights of copyright owners and supporting the creative community.

Who is covered by the NHS Wales Copyright Licence Plus 

The NHS Wales e-Library, part of Digital Health and Care Wales, have an agreement with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) to provide a blanket copying licence that allows:

• NHS Wales employed and contracted staff
• Students when they are on placement
• Hospice workers employed by all hospices in Wales that provide NHS Wales commissioned care
• Private, independent and third sector employed social workers and private, independent and third sector employed social care managers
• Members of the public who sit on a Designated Committee of an NHS Wales organisation when acting on behalf of the committee  

to make copies from print and digital books, magazines, journals, purchased by national and local NHS Wales organisations as well as some websites.

Benefits of the NHS Wales CLA Plus Licence

• Make copies from publications from the UK and 38 International territories
• Copy up to one chapter or 5% of the book, and up to two articles from a single journal issue
• Make copies of any number of articles dealing with a particular dedicated theme from any one issue
• Allows healthcare professionals to share print and digital copies of content with patients and their carers
• Store copies on a secure network
• Coverage includes millions of publications including scientific and medical journals, technical reports, business books, and more
• To check if you can copy a publication under the licence enter the title or ISBN/ISSN into CLA’s online Check Permissions tool at: www.cla.co.uk/cla-products/public-sector-licence/nhs-licence/

There are three components to the NHS Wales CLA Plus licence:

1. Blanket cover, so those covered by the licence do not have to ask permission from copyright owners each time they copy, reuse, or share content from publications at work
2. Access to the Licence Plus Document Delivery ordering service, (LPDD) via your local NHS Wales or Social Care Wales Library and/or information service. The LPDD service supplies copyright fee paid (CFP) articles from the British Library, Reprints Desk, and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) through the use of pre-paid credits, providing streamlined access to articles from thousands of journals, usually delivered within seconds
   1. A CFP article can be shared with multiple users who are covered by the NHS Wales licence
3. Permits collaboration on projects and programmes with colleagues, government departments, local authorities, education and research organisations and businesses across the UK who have a CLA licence

Please get in touch with your NHS Wales Library and Knowledge Service or the NHS Wales e-Library to find out more about the LPDD service and how you can share content with external organisations with which you are collaborating.

• Read the full NHS Wales CLA Plus Licence terms and conditions here
• Copying Guidelines for licensed users
• Copying Guidelines for licensed users (Welsh)
• Introductory Webinars

• More information on the NHS Licence on the CLA Website

Still have questions? email elibrary@wales.nhs.uk and the team will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.