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Long read 05/03/2025

From ‘right drift’ to ‘left shift’?

Our Head of Policy, Fraser Battye, looks at the challenges facing the intention to shift care ‘from hospital to community’. He suggests that we have missed a critical part of the explanation for why this ‘left shift’ hasn’t taken place following previous initiatives.

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.

Long read 12/12/2024

‘NHS 10 Year Plan’: Strategy Unit consultation response

The Strategy Unit’s response to the Government’s current consultation on the ‘10 Year Health Plan’ for England.

Report 15/10/2024

What are the downsides of digital?

What are the downsides of digital?

Blog post 10/10/2024

Ara Darzi, Wes Streeting and English health policy. Part 2: cutting the knot

Following on from part one, Fraser continues exploring the Gordian Knot of English health policy.

Blog post 04/10/2024

Ara Darzi, Wes Streeting and English health policy. Part 1: the Gordian Knot

Health policy is not at a crossroads, it is in a bind. Strands so entangled, so complex they resemble a Gordian knot. Can this knot be untied?

 An ophthalmologist examining a patient's eye with an ophthalmoscope
Podcast 09/10/2023

Review of Ophthalmic Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) in Staffordshire and Shropshire

The aim of the MCNs is to bring together primary care optometrists with local ophthalmologists within a geographical area. This is a review Strategy Unit were commissioned by NHS England to work with a medical retina MCN in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and a glaucoma MCN in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, to review their work so far and look at the opportunities the networks present.

ICS intelligence functions graph
Report 21/03/2023

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

In 2020, NHSE

Mug of black coffee
Report 06/11/2022

Evaluating and embedding social values in procurement at East London NHS Foundation Trust

This report presents emerging findings from the early development stages of a social value approach to procurement by East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT). These findings provide insights for other organisations beginning to explore how to use procurement to contribute to improving health and reducing health inequalities.

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 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.

10 min review
test2
Report 19/10/2021

Estimating the impact of the proposed reforms to the Mental Health Act on the workload of psychiatrists

In January 2021, the Government published a White Paper, setting out its plans to reform the Mental Health Act.

Report 22/06/2021

Less noise and more light: using criteria-driven analysis to tackle inequalities

Reducing health inequality is a long-standing aim of health policy. Yet the gap between policy aim and population outcome has grown in recent years: on most measures health inequalities have got worse.

Report 05/10/2020

Socio-economic and environmental impact of Herefordshire and Worcestershire STP

Anchor institutions are large, typically non-profit, public sector organisations whose long-term sustaina

Report 21/09/2020

How can we learn from changes in practice under COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen rapid changes in ways of working.

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.

Report 01/07/2020

How can Integrated Care Systems collect and use more ‘person-centred intelligence’?

Working with our partners 

Report 02/04/2020

Outcomes based commissioning: A framework for local decision making

This local decision-making framework aims to empower systems as they look to design new contracting approaches aimed at improving outcomes.

Report 14/03/2020

Midlands Population Health Management Academy

The Midlands Population Health Management Academy was part of a programme of support, commissioned by NHS

Report 09/01/2020

How will we know if Integrated Care Systems reduce demand for urgent care?

The implications of a blended payment system are far reaching: Decisions about planned activity levels will determine the total funding envelope for urgent care within a system and will influence the behaviour of healthcare providers and the services they deliver to patients.

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