Top Menu

  • GitHub
  • Midlands Analyst Network and Huddles
  • SU Insights
  • Sign up for updates
The Strategy Unit

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Our work
  • Services
  • Contact
  • Training
  • GitHub
  • Midlands Analyst Network and Huddles
  • SU Insights
  • Sign up for updates
  1. Home

Our work

  • Show all
  • Better use of analysis and decision making
  • (-) System thinking and system working
  • (-) Primary, community and social care services
  • Urgent and emergency care
  • Inequalities
  • Elective / planned care
  • Wider determinants of health and prevention
  • MDSN
  • Mental health
  • End of life
  • Specialised services
  • Addressing inequalities
  • Maternity services and child health
  • Left shift
  • COVID-19
  • Evaluation
  • Models of care
  • Health and care programmes
  • (-) Show all
  • Learning and development
  • Futures thinking
  • Evaluation and impact assessment
  • Problem structuring
  • Strategy development
  • Complex modelling
  • Evidence reviews
  • Comparative analysis
  • Economic analysis
  • Population mapping
  • Options appraisal
  • (-) Show all
  • Report
  • Blog post
  • Tool
  • Long read
  • News
  • Podcast
  • Guide
  • Video
  • (-) Show all
  • Abeda Mulla
  • Alison Turner
  • André Castro Bilbrough
  • Andrew Jones
  • Andy Hood
  • Anya Ferguson
  • Bethany Mitchell
  • Chris Beeley
  • Claire Maynard
  • Clare Humble
  • David Callaghan
  • David Frith
  • Dechante Johnson
  • Ellie Jones
  • Faizan Mahmood
  • Fikriyudin Mufasir
  • Fraser Battye
  • Hoi Ying Cheng
  • Jacqueline Grout
  • Jake Parsons
  • James de Lacy
  • James Sandy
  • Jane Greenstock
  • Jennifer Wood
  • Jonathan Spencer
  • Jon Cook
  • Josh Cook
  • Karen Bradley
  • Kathryn Rogers
  • Katie Davies
  • Katie Spanjers
  • Lucy Morgan
  • Mahmoda Begum
  • Marya Mobeen
  • Mike Woodall
  • Mohammed Amin Mohammed
  • Natasha Stephenson
  • Nigel Edwards
  • Paul Mason
  • Paul Seamer
  • Peter Spilsbury
  • Rhian Davies
  • Richard Ward
  • Romaana Kapadi-Cooper
  • Sally Thompson
  • Sarah Lucas
  • Sheila Ali
  • Shiona Aldridge
  • Simon Bourne
  • Steven Wyatt
  • Strategy Unit
  • Tom Marshall
  • Tom Poustie
  • Zaheera Teladia
medicine spilled in cupped hand
Report 16/07/2026

New Medicine Service and Personal Health Costs Evaluation

Evaluation of the community pharmacy-based New Medicine Service and Personal Health Costs intervention.

Two people stand on opposite sides of a number on the ground; one sees a 6, the other sees a 9, each pointing and stating their perspective.
Blog post 30/06/2026

Neighbourhoods and hospital activity: oh yes it can, oh no it can’t?

Simple, intuitive ideas don’t draw critical attention. They stroll about the policy world, untested and unscathed.

red and blue ribbon twirls
10/06/2026

Improving perioperative flow: using simulation to understand elective care pathways

Why are operations still being cancelled on the day of surgery, despite long waiting lists and high demand? The answer often lies not in a single point of failure, but in how the perioperative pathway functions as a whole.

Colorful wooden Tetris-like blocks are stacked and scattered on a wooden surface with a green background.
Blog post 02/06/2026

Complex problems and Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Many moons ago, I was fortunate enough to observe a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) in Dudley.

A digitally illustrated, isometric view of an impossible staircase labyrinth inspired by M.C. Escher, rendered in a painterly style. Stone staircases loop and intersect in paradoxical, gravity-defying configurations within a deep stone structure. Several small human figures in colourful clothing are scattered across the staircases, appearing to walk in different directions. Vines and small plants grow along the upper edges of the walls, and the overall co
Blog post 14/05/2026

Failure demand as a route to success?

When we began looking at failure demand in the NHS, I assumed most of our time would be spent in familiar territory: productivity metr

emergency fire exit sign hanging from the ceiling
Long read 11/05/2026

Discharge before noon

Can data on discharge times help us to improve hospital flow?

Colorful watercolor brush stroke on transparent background
Blog post 06/05/2026

Adopting the Core20PLUS5 approach: different strokes for different folks?

This blog describes the headline findings from the first phase of the national evaluation of the Core20PLUS5 approach

Space shuttle rocket isolated on blue cyan background with copy space. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Blog post 29/04/2026

Neighbourhood health should not be judged (solely) by its ability to reduce hospital activity

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy arrived at NASA headquarters for a progress update on the planned trip to the moon.

Caricature drawings satirising the conducting style of Gustav Mahler when he was director of the Vienna State Opera, 1897-1907
Blog post 15/04/2026

Commissioners as conductors?

Traditional NHS commissioning alone is not enough, and must be complemented by a “conductor” role that actively coordinates partners and drives system-wide change. Together, commissioners provide strategic direction while conductors enable delivery, which is essential for improving outcomes in complex health systems.

blue and pink string lights
Blog post 14/04/2026

Diagnosing the problems of non-diagnosis

Some descriptions of healthcare seem to be taken straight from the film Minority Report.

Blue rectangular sign mounted on a brick wall, with a large white left-pointing arrow above the white text ‘your local GP Surgery’
Blog post 25/03/2026

Big GP practices: light work or spoilt broth?

Larger GP practices may deliver more appointments, but are they the most efficient way to provide good care?

A Healthcare Worker Measuring a Patient's Blood Pressure Using a Sphygmomanometer
Long read 04/03/2026

Continuity in primary care: the safest bet we aren’t able to make?

In this long-read, which first appeared in the HSJ, Fraser Battye asks whether focusing on continuity might also improve access to primary care

hospital staff running down a corridor wearing masks and scrubs
Blog post 23/02/2026

What explains the recent growth in hospital activity?

In this long read, Fraser Battye describes our analysis of what has driven the growth in hospital activity.

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.

2. Several individuals wearing scrubs discussing among themselves in outdoor setting.
Blog post 20/10/2025

The Strategy Unit contribution to neighbourhood health

Our role in supporting the national effort to turn the vision of neighbourhood health into action by providing evidence, analysis and insight.

seven coins on a textured white surface
Blog post 17/10/2025

A fairer funding future for general practice: lessons from Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB

Our evaluation of the Health Equity Payment (HEP) scheme in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland highlights how flexible, needs-based GP funding can support more equitable care.

Stethoscope on electrocardiogram ECG with red heart, heart wave, heart attack, cardiogram report.
Report 16/10/2025

Heart Failure Targeted Funding Programme 2023/24 Evaluation

The Heart Failure Targeted Funding Programme was an NHS England initiative to improve access to heart failure specialists in the commu

Impossible Stairway Maze
Blog post 09/10/2025

Making sense of failure demand in the NHS

I must be an unpleasant creature to share a room with. I snore. I smell. And I’m seemingly addicted to my way of doing things.

summary flow chart highlighting potentially mitigable activity at the top with boxes for redirection, prevention, relocation and efficiences and further boxes underneath
Tool 02/10/2025

Shifting care ‘from hospital to community’: where to start?

What are the opportunities to shift activity from hospital to community? Our analysis provides an evidence-based place to start.

watch the gap written on the edge of a train line
Blog post 25/09/2025

Expectations: The hidden driver of healthcare demand

How well do we understand changing expectations and implications for the NHS?

Pagination

  • Next page Next
The Strategy Unit
NHS Logo

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Our work
  • Contact
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility statement

The Strategy Unit 

Copyright © 2025 | Website design by NHS Midlands and Lancashire / NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands.

Accessibility

100%
100%
Scroll to top