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A group of young people sitting and talking together
13/05/2026

What Helps People Stay in NHS Talking Therapies? Insights from Services

How NHS Talking Therapies services are improving engagement through clearer expectations, flexible access and stronger support, and what further action could enhance recovery for more people.

Image of London at night
11/05/2026

Supporting the Mayor's partnership approach to reducing health inequalities in London

Being commissioned by the Mayor of London to produce independent reviews of proposals for major service change, affecting Londoners, perfectly aligns with our commitment to help the health and care system make better decisions and ultimately achieve benefits for population health and wellbeing. 

Realistic office table cluttered with scattered calendars, colourful sticky notes, and overlapping handwritten plans, with coffee stains and multiple wall clocks showing different times.
Blog post 03/02/2026

The enduring ‘messy programme’ with ‘mixed results’

The diagram below shows me at my most cynical.

Cartoon graphic depicting four people standing on orange blocks at different heights
News 05/11/2025

Strengthening ethnicity data across the NHS: developing the national improvement plan

Our analysis and stakeholder engagement supported NHS England to develop the national Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan.

Elderly man sitting in a hospital chair, looking contemplative and wearing a hospital gown.
Report 17/10/2025

Cancer and comorbidities: An Evidence Review of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Experience

An evidence review on the challenges and disparities faced by individuals living with cancer alongside other long-term conditions.

Carer giving seated elderly woman a glass of water
Report 21/08/2025

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.

Image of four connected jigsaw pieces representing Geography, Timing, Site Selection and Target Population
Blog post 24/01/2025

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.

Urgent Community Response with images in circles of outlines of people
Blog post 13/05/2022

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.

Clinician wearing white coat and stethoscope with finger on tablet device
Report 15/10/2021

Strategy Unit devises a new method for classifying outpatient appointments

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

Coloured blocks with text relating to Initial opinion, Structured Review, Urgent Investigation, Treatment, Diagnostic Procedure, Post Op, Pre Op, Discuss Results
14/10/2021

A new resource to support analysis of outpatient services: Classifying activity by function

 

Female support worker wearing white scrubs with arm around elderly patient walking to a seating area
11/06/2021

Learning the lessons of Long Covid in real time

Round table event, 12 July

Open laptop showing analytical data
Report 22/04/2021

Reviewing the evidence on digital inclusion

Digital technology is a significant part of our daily&nb

Alarm clock
Report 20/04/2021

Evidence review: Early diagnosis of cancer

Detecting cancers early is essential to saving lives and reducing the need for invasive treatments.

Stethoscope
News 10/02/2021

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

messy letters
Blog post 19/10/2020

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'?

Waiting list model
Report 29/07/2020

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.

PCI guide
Guide 09/12/2019

Measuring what matters in systems – A call for person-centred intelligence

The Strategy Unit and Ipsos MORI launch guide to implementing Person-Centred Intelligence.

Bedtrtendsplot
Report 05/11/2019

Exploring Mental Health Inpatient Capacity

This report explores the pressures on inpatient mental health services across Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships in England, drawing on a wide range of datasets, published research and interviews with staff working on mental health services. The report was commissioned by and includes a response from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Blog post 13/07/2018

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

research signpost
Blog post 19/03/2018

What works for primary care led integration?

We recently shared highlights from our realist synthesis on primary care-led integrated models, at the Health Policy and Planning Network workshop. Take a look at our presentation for a flavour of our findings ahead of publication later in the summer.

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