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

Press coverage of busy hospitals often comes in the language of natural disasters. ‘Rising tides’ or ‘waves’ of need ‘flood’ wards and corridors across the country.

Explanations for such disasters focus largely on the health of the population. Older, sicker, weaker and less resilient: with the NHS struggling to keep its head above the resulting water.

A practical exploration of intersectionality, testing theory through quantitative analysis of hospital readmissions.

The diagram below shows me at my most cynical. It is from a (light-hearted…) session that I ran many, many moons ago, where I was trying to describe the environment for evaluation that can be created by high-profile NHS programmes.

The Strategy Unit is proud to support early-career analysts that help widen access to data science and strengthen diversity in the field. This summer, we welcomed Ashionye Aninze, through the Health Data Science Black Internship Programme, where she worked with our modelling team on a project to make the New Hospital Programme demand model more accessible.

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

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