What is an ‘Intelligence Function’? What value can they add to decision making? How can they be configured and who needs to be involved? What lessons can be drawn from current practice?

The pace of change in the development and use of digital technology is astonishing. The use of such technology has been an essential element in the health and care services response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, the previously unthinkable became commonplace.

Part of the Strategy Unit mission is to improve the use of analysis in decision making. Current use is, to employ a euphemism, variable.

Our mission takes multiple forms:

NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG presenting PHM ExploreR which is an open source tool for Population Health Management. The tool looks incredibly useful to anyone who is involved with PHM (not just analysts).

Andras Varady and Rich Wood talked about the project as a whole, and then ran a demo of the tool and its capabilities. They covered the data requirements of the tool, before moving on to the full functionality of the suite, including:

The Midlands Decision Support Network in association with The Strategy Unit hosted INSIGHT 2021 our annual festival of learning and sharing events for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care (4th – 15th October).

The number of outpatient attendances in England is now approaching 100 million each year. In 2017/18, the estimated cost of this care was over £9 billion - or 8% of the total NHS England budget.

Yet there are significant gaps in our knowledge. We don’t know enough about the purpose and function of outpatient appointments. Without this knowledge, the NHS will struggle to ensure that the billions spent on these services are delivering best value for the patient and the public.

Quality Review Service

QRS closed on 31st July 2021. We would like to thank everyone for their support in helping QRS to improve quality across the NHS.

The Strategy Unit will undertake a rapid qualitative project to identify, collate and share, good practice across England in increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

The drive for greater integration of health and care services has been the central theme of UK health policy for most of the last decade.  There is near universal support for this objective, but little agreement on the best way it can be delivered. 

The Strategy Unit, the Health Economics Unit and Leicester Clinical Trials Unit have been announced as evaluation partners to support success in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Health and Care Awards.