‘Might’ is right

A good idea can be ruined by over-selling.

Urgent Community Response – What Works?

The Strategy Unit, with our partners Ipsos, has been commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) to provide a long-term national evaluation of the Urgent Community Response programme rolled-out across England. The programme aims to shift resources to home and community-based services as part of the NHS commitment to providing the right care, to the right people, at the right time. And there are a range of outputs from the early work that provide learning for local systems as they develop their services.

Strategies to reduce inequalities in access to planned hospital procedures

UPDATE 10th August: Now including briefing note for Integrated Care Boards on legal duties in respect of reducing inequalities. This report guides ICBs through the process.

Guest blog: Anthropology offers a strangely familiar approach to understanding decisions

We saw them before they were famous: reflections on AphA’s away day

In June 1976, the Sex Pistols played Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall.

Appointing an ICS ‘Chief Analyst’

The Strategy Unit has, over the last ten years, developed a way of working that has allowed us to become recognised as a leading analytical organisation in the NHS.

Bringing patient flow modelling into general practice

With general practice appointments hitting the highest numbers on record (34.8 million in England alone in November 2021), careful organisation and planning for patient appointments is increasingly important.

‘Developing your ICS Intelligence Functions’: A Free Webinar Series

What is an ‘Intelligence Function’? What value can they add to decision making? How can they be configured and who needs to be involved? What lessons can be drawn from current practice?

What do we know about the benefits of digital social care records?

The pace of change in the development and use of digital technology is astonishing. The use of such technology has been an essential element in the health and care services response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, the previously unthinkable became commonplace.

Treating people on waiting lists: who decides what is fair?

Waiting lists for elective care are in the news. The national plan has been issued, with the expectation that lists will continue to rise for some years - and that long waiting will not disappear anytime soon. Addressing this ‘backlog’ will remain a fundamental challenge for some time to come.

Decision makers can make much better use of analysis

Part of the Strategy Unit mission is to improve the use of analysis in decision making. Current use is, to employ a euphemism, variable.

PHM ExploreR

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG presenting PHM ExploreR which is an open source tool for Population Health M

The Intellectual Forum: a source of fresh perspectives on decision making  

The literature on decision making is like a disaster movie highlights reel. Barely has one calamity registered before another serious misstep takes its place. Case study after case study flashes past, each with its own lessons and warnings.  

Insight 2021

The Midlands Decision Support Network in association with The Strategy Unit hosted INSIGHT 2021 our annual festival of learning and sharing events for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care (4th – 15th October).

Securing the future of domiciliary care

The Strategy Unit is embarking on an exciting project with WM ADASS, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care Services in the West Midlands to explore the challenges facing domiciliary care and the opportunities that exist to transform and improve the service.

Strategy Unit devises a new method for classifying outpatient appointments

The number of outpatient attendances in England is now approaching 100 million each year.

Infant feeding problems, lockdown and attendance at Emergency Departments: what’s going on?

From our previous work, with Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation, we know that lockdown had a significant effect on attendance at Emergency Departments (ED). We also know that this effect was very unevenly distributed: some demographic groups stayed away far more than others.

The impact of social care on demand for urgent hospital care: have we reached a consensus?

The care home COVID crisis and the effects of longstanding staffing and funding shortages has meant that social care has featured heavily in the media over the last 12 months. 

Decisions to admit patients are not solely determined by clinical risk

Whether or not to admit a patient is one of the most routine yet important decisions a doctor in an Emergency Department