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Our work

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  • Mahmoda Begum
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  • Natasha Stephenson
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  • Rhian Davies
  • Richard Ward
  • Romaana Kapadi
  • Shiona Aldridge
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  • Tom Poustie
carer holding had with elderly person in wheelchair
Blog post 24/09/2025

A missing element in ‘shifting care’

Our Director, Peter Spilsbury, outlines the scale of the task when it comes to making ‘the shift from hospital to community’.

Report 16/06/2025

Virtual wards: Patient and unpaid carer experiences of ‘hospital at home’ care

Our evaluation of patient and carer experiences of virtual wards found widespread benefits and highlights areas for improvements parti

Report 07/05/2025

Are there any non-technical ‘rules of thumb’ for assessing the quality of analysis?

The report below is from a short project that explored a simple set of questions:

Report 13/12/2024

‘To risk stratify or not risk stratify, that is the question’ (At least, it should be)

Risk stratification tools are ubiquitous in healthcare. The concept is simple and seductive.

Report 15/10/2024

What are the downsides of digital?

What are the downsides of digital?

Report 29/02/2024

MDSN: GP practice productivity, efficiency, and continuity of care

GP Practice productivity, efficiency, and continuity of care

Report 29/02/2024

MDSN: The gap between need and supply of GP practice consultations

The gap between need and supply of GP practice consultations

Podcast 29/02/2024

MDSN: Long-term trends in GP practice Consultation Rates

GP practice consultations are, by some distance, the most common interaction between the NHS and the population it serves.

dandelion with seeds floating away
Report 31/01/2024

A Picture of End-of-Life Care in England

Working with Macmillan our analysis investigates who is more likely to experience poor outcomes associated with shortcomings in end-of-life care? Are there particular areas in England where those at end-of-life face significant challenges and how might the supply of services in an area be influencing these?

Report 03/05/2023

How is growth in diagnostic testing affecting the hospital system?

Diagnostic services, such as medical imaging, endoscopy, and pathology, have grown substantially in recent years and at a faster rate than most other healthcare services. Increased diagnostic testing brings benefits to patients, but rapid growth of this service area within a complex, adaptive system such as the NHS is likely to have had unintended consequences. Midlands ICBs wanted to understand the impact of diagnostic growth on hospital services.

ICS intelligence functions graph
Report 21/03/2023

ICS intelligence functions – a toolkit to support the implementation of NHSE guidance

In 2020, NHSE

Socio-economic inequalities in coronary heart disease
Report 09/12/2022

Socio-economic inequalities in coronary heart disease

There are substantial differences in mortality rates from cardiovascular disease between socio-economic groups.  Our new tool provides an overview, for ICBs, of the points on the care pathway where inequalities emerge and are amplified

graphic showing inequality being erased with eraser
Report 04/11/2022

What are the ethical challenges in addressing inequities?

Produced by Angie Hobbs - the world’s first Professor in the Public Understanding of Philosophy – this paper examines the ethical questions raised by our report outlining strategies for reducing inequity.

Report 09/05/2022

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.

Report 29/03/2022

Autism evidence scan identifies knowledge gaps

Diagnosing autism takes account of a person’s differences in social interaction and communication, sensory sensitivity, interests and behaviours. Yet autism varies hugely from person to person, both in how it looks and how it is experienced.

Report 28/10/2021

Advancing the analytical capability of the NHS and its ICS partners

The Strategy Unit were asked by the Strategy and Development Team in the Directorate of the Chief Data and Analytics Officer, NHSE/I, to make recommendations for advancing analytical capability across the health and care workforce.

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.

10 min review
Report 12/05/2021

Socio-economic inequalities in access to planned hospital care: causes and consequences

Tacking inequalities in health is a long-standing NHS policy objective. Variation in the experiences and outcomes of different communities during the COVID-19 pandemic served to bring this issue back into focus.

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.

Report 22/01/2021

Equity and Cost Growth in Specialised Services

NHS specialised services provide care for people with complex or rare medical conditions.

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