Expectations: The hidden driver of healthcare demand
How well do we understand changing expectations and implications for the NHS?
Hydration, UTIs and older people: learning from NHS pilots about how to improve care
Our evaluation of hydration-focused interventions for older people found promising signs of impact and highlighted the practical and systemic challenges of delivering and sustaining change.
Strategy Unit demand model wins prestigious Florence Nightingale Award
Our open-source demand model, developed in collaboration with the New Hospital Programme, has been named the 2025 winner of the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Health and Care Analytics.
Our role in the New Hospital Programme
Learn how the Strategy Unit’s innovative model is transforming hospital planning by providing a consistent, data-driven approach to forecast future demand and evidence-based decision making.
Why can’t I prove my programme is effective?
Evaluation blog series continues with Impact Evaluation Lead Mike Woodall looking at how programme designers can maximise the chances of success.
What’s philosophy got to do with evidence reviews?
Ever wondered how to make better use of evidence in decision-making? Follow our latest blog series to find out more about how our Evidence and Knowledge Mobilisation team can help you to make sense of and use evidence from research and practice.
Could a peer review methodology help drive continual learning within and across local systems?
In this blog Karen describes how peer review methodologies are being used to support learning in Long COVID services.
Emergency department acuity measurement and process: quick scoping review
This review was commissioned to inform NHS England’s Acuity Standardisation Project which aims to agree a standardised method of allocating acuity category (a triage method) for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs).
MDSN: Decision-making by senior leaders to support recovery from COVID
This paper summarises experiences of Integrated Care System leaders in making strategic decisions to support recovery of services from
Insight 2022 - Day 1 - ICSs working together to be intelligence-led organisations: lessons from history
ICSs working together to be intelligence-led organisations: lessons from historyHow can Integrated Care Systems (ICS
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.
INSIGHT 2021: Insight to Action. What Works?
It has been estimated that it can take up to 17 years to translate evidence into practice – how can we change that?
Learning the lessons of Long Covid in real time
Round table event, 12 July
Some positive news for integrating GP practices with hospital trusts
The drive for greater integration of health and care services has been the central theme of UK health policy for most of
Making sense of evidence
It's time to celebrate World Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC) Day. In a world dominated by COVID-19 and the associated infodemic, this day arguably has more resonance. Closer to home, EBHC Day also coincides with our Insight 2020 festival and the launch of the Midlands Decision Support network. What better opportunity to ask, 'what does evidence-informed decision making actually mean'?
Modelling the impact of covid on waiting lists for planned care
Working with the national collaboration to coordinate covid-related analysis, and the NHSE/I Midlands region, the Strategy Unit has produced a ‘systems dynamics’ model of waiting lists for planned care. The model is freely available for non-commercial use across the NHS. Here, Steven Wyatt and Mike Woodall explain what we did and how we did it.
Measuring what matters in systems – A call for person-centred intelligence
The Strategy Unit and Ipsos MORI launch guide to implementing Person-Centred Intelligence.
New care models - what's the evidence
High level findings from a series of evidence reviews on new care models.
Innovation and evaluation – a proposition for change, an offer of support
Health and care services in England are labouring under a chronic state of stress – where for many organisations, ‘just about coping’ has become the new normal.
Integrating health and care services - what works? It’s complicated…
Coinciding nicely with the NHS 70th Birthday celebrations and the parallel discussions of ‘where next and how to do it better’ for the NHS, last we