How the science of systems thinking can support the craft of wise decision making – A GP practice case study

If you had a magic wand what decisions would you take to help make a ‘better world’ for GP practices? Would fixing a seemingly obvious ‘problem’ really make things better, or could you end up causing waves in the complex system in which GP practices sit? 

‘Systems thinking’ can be hugely valuable for complex decision making, taming complexity and bring decision makers to a shared understanding.

Understanding the links between delayed discharges and hospital congestion

In January 2022 NHS figures showed that more than 12,000 patients occupying hospital beds in England no longer met the ‘criteria to reside’.  

Eric Wolstenholme suggests that the potential savings to health from reducing delays to discharge are being significantly underestimated in current solutions but that realising these savings is very challenging …

ICSs working together to be intelligence-led organisations: lessons from history

• How can Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) become more ‘intelligence-led’ in their approach to decision-making?
• What role could regional learning networks such as the Midlands Decision Support Network play in this context?
• How can we learn from history to maximise their potential?

Nigel Edwards (Chief Executive, The Nuffield Trust) opened INSIGHT 2022 with a session focusing on the Deci

Now with the World Menopause Day 2022 update.
What is it like to experience menopause as an NHS employee? And what is its impact on both the individuals and the organisations they work for?

Are there inequalities in access to planned care? If so, what are they? Which groups ‘gain’ and which groups suffer? And what could be done to address any inequalities? In pursuing their objective of reducing inequalities, what could Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) do? What strategies and approaches are likely to be successful?

As the NHS emerged out of the pandemic, it was confronted with the challenge of not only recovery of unprecedented waiting lists, but with inequalities which required attention. NHS leaders challenged providers to restore inclusively and at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, we have developed a way of doing just that, whilst simultaneously reducing waiting times for all.

The Midlands Decision Support Network in association with The Strategy Unit are hosting INSIGHT 2022 our annual festival of learning and sharing events for the NHS, local government and other partners across health and care.

Our research, published in the Lancet Regional Health Europe, highlights substantial inequities in access to elective hip replacement surgery. We found no evidence that these inequities reduced between 2006 and 2016.

MDSN responds to recent reports addressing the NHS waiting list crisis

A good idea can be ruined by over-selling. The NHS has a tendency to adopt ideas and then move rapidly to wanting them to become certainties.

What begins as a proposition rapidly becomes an assertion, a statement of fact, a policy, a target, a line in a mandated planning template…an obligatory mention in every sentence for the aspiring manager.