Welcome to the National Analyst Network

Thank you for being part of our growing community

The National Analyst Network is a practical, welcoming and peer-led community for analysts, data scientists, intelligence colleagues and others using data, evidence and insight to support strategic commissioning and better decision-making across health, care and wider public services.

Building on the success of the Midlands Analyst Network, the National Analyst Network widens this community so that colleagues from across the country can connect, share learning, discuss common challenges and strengthen the contribution of analysis in practice.

The Network provides a supportive space to share ideas, resources and good practice; seek advice; ask questions; spark debate; and develop skills together. It is part of the Strategic Commissioning Intelligence Centre and brings together colleagues from across the wider analytical community, recognising that strategic commissioning depends on insight from many organisations, sectors and perspectives.

Meet your Network lead: Rachel Caswell

Rachel is a Senior Healthcare Analyst at the Strategy Unit and the Lead for Training & Development. She has led the Analyst Network since its early days and is passionate about supporting analysts to connect, learn from each other, share practical expertise and strengthen the role of analysis in decision-making.

Fortnightly Huddles

At the heart of the Network are our fortnightly online Huddles, hosted on MS Teams. Huddles are informal but informative sessions covering a wide range of topics linked to analysis, intelligence, evidence, decision-making and strategic commissioning.

You are very welcome to join any Huddle that feels useful or interesting to you. You do not need to be a member of the National Analyst Network to attend a Huddle, but joining the Network means you can be kept up to date with future Huddles, events, resources and opportunities to contribute.

We welcome contributions from Network members, as well as speakers from academia, health and care organisations, national bodies, subject specialists and, occasionally, international presenters.

For quick access to a Huddle, please use the link below. If you have any questions about the Huddles - including how to join the Network, access previous recordings, suggest a topic or present at a future session - please contact Rachel Caswell at rachel.caswell@nhs.net or complete this form.

Next Huddle: 1st October - Introducing the I′-chart: an improved I-chart for SPC in healthcare

Explore a new SPC chart for healthcare, practical examples of its use, and how better understanding of variation can support improvement and decision making.

Join the National Analyst Network for a session on Statistical Process Control (SPC) and the newly developed I′-chart (I-prime chart).

The Huddle is aimed at analysts and improvement colleagues across health and care who use - or are interested in using - SPC to understand variation and support improvement.

After a brief introduction to SPC, Jacob Anhøj will use real health and care examples to demonstrate the new I′-chart, compare it with established SPC charts and explore when it may be useful.

Dr Nathan Proudlove, University of Manchester, will provide reflections from an improvement and implementation perspective, including practical issues around software and analytical capability.

The session will also explore interest in developing a community of practice for SPC in health and care, creating opportunities for analysts to share methods, tools, software and learning.

The Huddle has a clear connection to decision quality, change and improvement, and analytical capability - all important enablers of effective strategic commissioning.

No previous expertise in SPC is required.

Teams link via your calendar invite - if you don't have this - see below!

Click here to join the meeting Join us at 11 am!

Up and coming Huddles

• 15/10/26: Better homes, better health: insights from linking housing and health data with Tom Prendergast, The Health Foundation
• 26/11/26: Exploring workforce opportunities for analysts  with Neil Morgan and Jon Adamson, MLCSU

Useful resources 

The Strategic Commissioning Intelligence Centre (SCIC) is a new national initiative and core part of the Strategic Commissioning Development Programme (SCDP), in partnership with the Strategy Unit. See here for the collection of resources and learning materials to support strategic commissioning